Composite materials for electrocatalysis of O2 evolution: IrO2+SnO2 in acid solution

Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction in Acidic Media

The well-established proton exchange membrane (PEM)-based water electrolysis, which operates under acidic conditions, possesses many advantages compared to alkaline water electrolysis, such as compact design, higher voltage efficiency, and higher gas purity. However, PEM-based water electrolysis is hampered by the low efficiency, instability, and high cost of anodic electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this review, the recently reported acidic OER electrocatalysts are comprehensively summarized, classified, and discussed. The related fundamental studies on OER mechanisms and the relationship between activity and stability are particularly highlighted in order to provide an atomistic-level understanding for OER catalysis. A stability test protocol is suggested to evaluate the intrinsic activity degradation. Some current challenges and unresolved questions, such as the usage of carbon-based materials and the differences between the electrocatalyst performances in acidic electrolytes and PEM-based electrolyzers are also discussed. Finally, suggestions for the most promising electrocatalysts and a perspective for future research are outlined. This review presents a fresh impetus and guideline to the rational design and synthesis of high-performance acidic OER electrocatalysts for PEM-based water electrolysis.

Progress of Heterogeneous Iridium-Based Water Oxidation Catalysts

The water oxidation reaction (or oxygen evolution reaction, OER) plays a critical role in green hydrogen production via water splitting, electrochemical CO₂ reduction, and nitrogen fixation. The four-electron and four-proton transfer OER process involves multiple reaction intermediates and elementary steps that lead to sluggish kinetics; therefore, a high overpotential is necessary to drive the reaction. Among the different water-splitting electrolyzers, the proton exchange membrane type electrolyzer has greater advantages, but its anode catalysts are limited to iridium-based materials. The iridium catalyst has been extensively studied in recent years due to its balanced activity and stability for acidic OER, and many exciting signs of progress have been made. In this review, the surface and bulk Pourbaix diagrams of iridium species in an aqueous solution are introduced. The iridium-based catalysts, including metallic or oxides, amorphous or crystalline, single crystals, atomically dispersed or nanostructured, and iridium compounds for OER, are then elaborated. The latest progress of active sites, reaction intermediates, reaction kinetics, and elementary steps is summarized. Finally, future research directions regarding iridium catalysts for acidic OER are discussed.

On the role of microkinetic network structure in the interplay between oxygen evolution reaction and catalyst dissolution

Understanding the pathways of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the mechanisms of catalyst degradation is of essential importance for developing efficient and stable OER catalysts. Experimentally, a close coupling between OER and catalyst dissolution on metal oxides is reported. In this work, it is analysed how the microkinetic network structure of a generic electrocatalytic cycle, in which a common intermediate causes catalyst dissolution, governs the interplay between electrocatalytic activity and stability. Model discrimination is possible based on the analysis of incorporated microkinetic network structures and the comparison to experimental data. The derived concept is used to analyse the coupling of OER and catalyst dissolution on rutile and reactively sputtered Iridium oxides. For rutile Iridium oxide, the characteristic activity and stability behaviour can be well described by a mono-nuclear, adsorbate evolution mechanism and the chemical type of both competing dissolution and rate-determining OER-step. For the reactively sputtered Iridium oxide surface, experimentally observed characteristics can be captured by the assumption of an additional path via a low oxidation state intermediate, which explains the observed characteristic increase in OER over dissolution selectivity with potential by the competition between electrochemical re-oxidation and chemical dissolution.

Synthesis of 3D IrRuMn Sphere as a Superior Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalyst in Acidic Environment

The design of a three-dimensional structure for an Ir-based catalyst offers a great opportunity to improve the electrocatalytic performance and maximize the use of the precious metal. Herein, a novel wet chemical strategy is reported for the synthesis of an IrRuMn catalyst with a sphere structure and porous features. In the synthetic process, the combined use of citric acid and formamide is requisite for the formation of the sphere structure. This method leads to a favorable 3D IrRuMn sphere structure with many fully exposed active sites. Furthermore, an alloying noble metal, such as Ir or Ru, with the transition metal leads to enhanced oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity. The doping of a transition metal, such as Mn, is an interesting example, because it exhibits stability and activity in both acidic and alkaline media. For the OER, the IrRuMn sphere catalyst exhibits an overpotential of 260 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^-2 in strongly acidic 0.1 m HClO₄ , which is superior to that of a commercial IrO₂ /C catalyst. This approach provides a novel way to synthesize an Ir-based multimetallic spherical electrocatalyst, which exhibits exceptional efficiency for the acidic OER. It will pave the way for new approaches to the practical utilization of PEM electrolyzers.

Organometallic chemical deposition of crystalline iridium oxide nanoparticles on antimony-doped tin oxide support with high-performance for the oxygen evolution reaction

Organometallic chemical deposition (OMCD) of epitaxially anchored rutile IrO₂ nanoparticles on Sb-doped SnO₂ support, with high-performance towards the oxygen evolution reaction (OER).

Electrochemical characterization of manganese oxides as a water oxidation catalyst in proton exchange membrane electrolysers

The performance of four polymorphs of manganese (Mn) dioxides as the catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers was examined. The comparison of the activity between Mn oxides/carbon (Mn/C), iridium oxide/carbon (Ir/C) and platinum/carbon (Pt/C) under the same condition in PEM electrolysers showed that the γ-MnO₂/C exhibited a voltage efficiency for water electrolysis comparable to the case with Pt/C, while lower than the case with the benchmark Ir/C OER catalyst. The rapid decrease in the voltage efficiency was observed for a PEM electrolyser with the Mn/C, as indicated by the voltage shift from 1.7 to 1.9 V under the galvanostatic condition. The rapid deactivation was also observed when Pt/C was used, indicating that the instability of PEM electrolysis with Mn/C is probably due to the oxidative decomposition of carbon supports. The OER activity of the four types of Mn oxides was also evaluated at acidic pH in a three-electrode system. It was found that the OER activity trends of the Mn oxides evaluated in an acidic aqueous electrolyte were distinct from those in PEM electrolysers, demonstrating the importance of the evaluation of OER catalysts in a real device condition for future development of noble-metal-free PEM electrolysers.

Iridium-Based Catalysts for Solid Polymer Electrolyte Electrocatalytic Water Splitting

Chemical energy conversion/storage through water splitting for hydrogen production has been recognized as the ideal solution to the transient nature of renewable energy sources. Solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) water electrolysis is one of the most practical ways to produce pure H₂ . Electrocatalysts are key materials in the SPE water electrolysis. At the anode side, electrode materials catalyzing the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) require specific properties. Among the reported materials, only iridium presents high activity and is more stable. In this Minireview, an application overview of single iridium metal and its oxide catalysts-binary, ternary, and multicomponent catalysts of iridium oxides and supported composite catalysts-for the OER in SPE water electrolysis is presented. Two main strategies to improve the activity of an electrocatalyst system, namely, increasing the number of active sites and the intrinsic activity of each active site, are reviewed with detailed examples. The challenges and perspectives in this field are also discussed.

Nanotubular Iridium-Cobalt Mixed Oxide Crystalline Architectures Inherited from Cobalt Oxide for Highly Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction Catalysis

Here, we report the unique transformation of one-dimensional tubular mixed oxide nanocomposites of iridium (Ir) and cobalt (Co) denoted as Ir_xCo_1-xO_y, where x is the relative Ir atomic content to the overall metal content. The formation of a variety of Ir_xCo_1-xO_y (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) crystalline tubular nanocomposites was readily achieved by electrospinning and subsequent calcination process. Structural characterization clearly confirmed that Ir_xCo_1-xO_y polycrystalline nanocomposites had a tubular morphology consisting of Ir/IrO₂ and Co₃O₄, where Ir, Co, and O were homogeneously distributed throughout the entire nanostructures. The facile formation of Ir_xCo_1-xO_y nanotubes was mainly ascribed to the inclination of Co₃O₄ to form the nanotubes during the calcination process, which could play a critical role in providing a template of tubular structure and facilitating the formation of IrO₂ by being incorporated with Ir precursors. Furthermore, the electroactivity of obtained Ir_xCo_1-xO_y nanotubes was characterized for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with rotating disk electrode voltammetry in 1 M NaOH aqueous solution. Among diverse Ir_xCo_1-xO_y, Ir_0.46Co_0.54O_y nanotubes showed the best OER activity (the least-positive onset potential, greatest current density, and low Tafel slope), which was even better than that of commercial Ir/C. The Ir_0.46Co_0.54O_y nanotubes also exhibited a high stability in alkaline electrolyte. Expensive Ir mixed with cheap Co at an optimum ratio showed a greater OER catalytic activity than pure Ir oxide, one of the most efficient OER catalysts.

Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Stable and Highly Active Ir Oxohydroxides for Electrochemical Oxidation of Water

Water splitting for hydrogen production in acidic media has been limited by the poor stability of the anodic electrocatalyst devoted to the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). To help circumvent this problem we have synthesized a class of novel Ir oxohydroxides by rapid microwave-asisted hydrothermal synthesis, which bridges the gap between electrodeposited amorphous IrO_x films and crystalline IrO₂ electrocatalysts prepared by calcination routes. For electrode loadings two orders of magnitude below current standards, the synthesized compounds present an unrivalled combination of high activity and stability under commercially relevant OER conditions in comparison to reported benchmarks, without need for pretreatment. The best compound achieved a lifetime 33 times longer than the best commercial Ir benchmark. Thus, the reported efficient synthesis of an Ir oxohydroxide phase with superior intrinsic OER performance constitutes a major step towards the targeted design of cost-efficient Ir based OER electrocatalysts for acidic media.

High-Performance Supported Iridium Oxohydroxide Water Oxidation Electrocatalysts

The synthesis of a highly active and yet stable electrocatalyst for the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) remains a major challenge for acidic water splitting on an industrial scale. To address this challenge, we obtained an outstanding high-performance OER catalyst by loading Ir on conductive antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO)-nanoparticles by a microwave (MW)-assisted hydrothermal route. The obtained Ir phase was identified by using XRD as amorphous (XRD-amorphous), highly hydrated Ir^III/IV oxohydroxide. To identify chemical and structural features responsible for the high activity and exceptional stability under acidic OER conditions with loadings as low as 20 μg_Ir  cm^-2 , we used stepwise thermal treatment to gradually alter the XRD-amorphous Ir phase by dehydroxylation and crystallization of IrO₂ . This resulted in dramatic depletion of OER performance, indicating that the outstanding electrocatalytic properties of the MW-produced Ir^III/IV oxohydroxide are prominently linked to the nature of the produced Ir phase. This finding is in contrast with the often reported stable but poor OER performance of crystalline IrO₂ -based compounds produced through more classical calcination routes. Our investigation demonstrates the immense potential of Ir oxohydroxide-based OER electrocatalysts for stable high-current water electrolysis under acidic conditions.

The Stability Challenges of Oxygen Evolving Catalysts: Towards a Common Fundamental Understanding and Mitigation of Catalyst Degradation

This Review addresses the technical challenges, scientific basis, recent progress, and outlook with respect to the stability and degradation of catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) operating at electrolyzer anodes in acidic environments with an emphasis on ion exchange membrane applications. First, the term "catalyst stability" is clarified, as well as current performance targets, major catalyst degradation mechanisms, and their mitigation strategies. Suitable in situ experimental methods are then evaluated to give insight into catalyst degradation and possible pathways to tune OER catalyst stability. Finally, the importance of identifying universal figures of merit for stability is highlighted, leading to a comprehensive accelerated lifetime test that could yield comparable performance data across different laboratories and catalyst types. The aim of this Review is to help disseminate and stress the important relationships between structure, composition, and stability of OER catalysts under different operating conditions.

Preparation and characterization of a TiO2-NT/SnO2–Sb tubular porous electrode with long service lifetime for wastewater treatment process

We have studied the formation process of a novel TiO₂-NTs/SnO₂–Sb tubular porous electrode with a long service lifetime for the wastewater treatment process.

Efficient and Stable Evolution of Oxygen Using Pulse-Electrodeposited Ir/Ni Oxide Catalyst in Fe-Spiked KOH Electrolyte

Metal oxides have been extensively explored as catalysts for the electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Here, we present an excellent OER catalytic system consisting of pulse-electrodeposited Ir/Ni oxides in Fe(3+)-spiked 1 M KOH. In pure 1 M KOH electrolyte, the optimized catalyst, which had an Ir:Ni atom ratio of 1:1.49, could catalyze 10 mA/cm(2) of O2 production at a small overpotential (η) of 264 mV. Remarkably, we found that its OER performance could be significantly improved by adding 0.3 mM Fe(3+) into the electrolyte. At an η of just 343 ± 3 mV, a huge current of 500 mA/cm(2) was achieved. Furthermore, this catalytic system exhibited a small Tafel slope of 31 mV/dec and a large iridium mass-normalized current of 1260 mA/mgIr at η = 280 mV. We also discovered that the durability of the Ir/Ni oxide catalyst during OER (at 10 mA/cm(2) with η < 280 mV) could be maintained for more than 4.5 days by simply spiking Fe(3+), Ir(3+), and Ni(2+) into the KOH electrolyte. The figures-of-merit in this work, in terms of both activity and stability, compare favorably against values from several state-of-the-art catalysts. Hypotheses for the outstanding performance of the Ir/Ni catalyst are proposed and discussed.

Codoping-Induced, Rhombus-Shaped Co3O4 Nanosheets as an Active Electrode Material for Oxygen Evolution

Nanostructured Co3O4 doped with Zn(2+), Ni(2+), and both were directly grown on an ITO substrate by an easily available hydrothermal method. The doped Co3O4 showed a unique structural morphology evolution upon controlling the doping elements and the doping ratio of the cations. For the codoped samples, the novel rhombus-shaped Co3O4 nanosheets doped with Zn(2+) and Ni(2+) (concentration ratio of 1:2) exhibited the optimal electrocatalytic performance. The sample showed a current density of 165 mA cm(-2) at 1.75 V, approximately 1.6 and 4 times higher than that of samples doped with Zn(2+) and Ni(2+) at a concentration ratio of 1:1 and 1:3. The unique architecture and its corresponding modified physical properties, such as high active-site density created by codoping, large structural porosity, and high roughness, are together responsible to its superior performance. For codoped Co3O4 nanostructures, Zn(2+) facilitates the creation of Co cations in their high oxidation state as active centers, while Ni(2+) contributed to the new active sites with lower activation energy. The synergistic effect of Zn(2+) and Ni(2+) doping can explain the improved physicochemical properties of codoped Co3O4 nanostructures.

An efficiently tuned d-orbital occupation of IrO2 by doping with Cu for enhancing the oxygen evolution reaction activity

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) has been regarded as a key half reaction for energy conversion technologies and requires high energy to create O[double bond, length as m-dash]O bonds. Transition metal oxides (TMOs) seem to be a promising and appealing solution to the challenge because of the diversity of their d-orbital states. We chose IrO2 as a model because it is universally accepted as a current state-of-the-art OER catalyst. In this study, copper-doped IrO2, particularly Cu0.3Ir0.7O δ , is shown to significantly improve the OER activity in acidic, neutral and basic solutions compared to un-doped IrO2. The substituted amount of Cu in IrO2 has a limit described by the Cu0.3Ir0.7O δ composition. We determined that the performance of Cu0.3Ir0.7O δ is due primarily to an increase in the Jahn-Teller effect in the CuO6 octahedra, and partially to oxygen defects in the lattice induced by the IrO6 octahedral geometric structure distortions, which enhance the lift degeneracy of the t2g and eg orbitals, making the d z 2 orbital partially occupied. This phenomenon efficiently reduces the difference between ΔG2 and ΔG3 in the free energy from the density functional theoretical (DFT) calculations and can yield a lower theoretical overpotential comparable to that of IrO2. The proposed method of doping with foreign elements to tune the electron occupation between the t2g and eg orbital states of Ir creates an opportunity for designing effective OER catalysts using the TMO groups.

Iridium Oxide Coatings with Templated Porosity as Highly Active Oxygen Evolution Catalysts: Structure-Activity Relationships

Iridium oxide is the catalytic material with the highest stability in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performed under acidic conditions. However, its high cost and limited availability demand that IrO2 is utilized as efficiently as possible. We report the synthesis and OER performance of highly active mesoporous IrO2 catalysts with optimized surface area, intrinsic activity, and pore accessibility. Catalytic layers with controlled pore size were obtained by soft-templating with micelles formed from amphiphilic block copolymers poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(butadiene)-b-poly(ethylene oxide). A systematic study on the influence of the calcination temperature and film thickness on the morphology, phase composition, accessible surface area, and OER activity reveals that the catalytic performance is controlled by at least two independent factors, that is, accessible surface area and intrinsic activity per accessible site. Catalysts with lower crystallinity show higher intrinsic activity. The catalyst surface area increases linearly with film thickness. As a result of the templated mesopores, the pore surface remains fully active and accessible even for thick IrO2 films. Even the most active multilayer catalyst does not show signs of transport limitations at current densities as high as 75 mA cm(-2) .

Fabrication and characterization of β-PbO2/α-PbO2/Sb–SnO2/TiO2nanotube array electrode and its application in electrochemical degradation of Acid Red G

A novel β-PbO₂/α-PbO₂/Sb–SnO₂/TiO₂nanotube array electrode was fabricated and investigated for the treatment of Acid Red G (ARG) in aqueous solution.

An IrSi oxide film as a highly active water-oxidation catalyst in acidic media

We report an acid-stable IrSi oxide film made by MOCVD of an Ir^V complex for electrochemical water-oxidation.

Developments and perspectives of oxide-based catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction

Activity, selectivity and stability of oxygen evolution catalysts for water electrolyzers: an interplay between composition, morphology, preparation and processing.

Enhanced hematite water electrolysis using a 3D antimony-doped tin oxide electrode

We present herein an example of nanocrystalline antimony-doped tin oxide (nc-ATO) disordered macroporous "inverse opal" 3D electrodes as efficient charge-collecting support structures for the electrolysis of water using a hematite surface catalyst. The 3D macroporous structures were created via templating of polystyrene spheres, followed by infiltration of the desired precursor solution and annealing at high temperature. Using cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, it was determined that the use of this 3D transparent conducting oxide with a hematite surface catalyst allowed for a 7-fold increase in active surface area for water splitting with respect to its 2D planar counterpart. This ratio of surface areas was evaluated based on the presence of oxidized trap states on the hematite surface, as determined from the equivalent circuit analysis of the Nyquist plots. Furthermore, the presence of nc-ATO 2D and 3D "underlayer" structures with hematite deposited on top resulted in decreased charge transfer resistances and an increase in the number of available active surface sites at the semiconductor-liquid junction when compared to hematite films lacking any nc-ATO substructures. Finally, absorption, transmission, and reflectance spectra of all of the tested films were measured, suggesting the feasibility of using 3D disordered structures in photoelectrochemical reactions, due to the high absorption of photons by the surface catalyst material and trapping of light within the structure.

Combinatorial search for improved metal oxide oxygen evolution electrocatalysts in acidic electrolytes

A library of electrocatalysts for water electrolysis under acidic conditions was created by ink jet printing metal oxide precursors followed by pyrolysis in air to produce mixed metal oxides. The compositions were then screened in acidic electrolytes using a pH sensitive fluorescence indicator that became fluorescent due to the pH change at the electrode surface because of the release of protons from water oxidation. The most promising materials were further characterized by measuring polarization curves and Tafel slopes as anodes for water oxidation. Mixed metal oxides that perform better than the iridium oxide standard were identified.