Unveiling the kinetics of oxygen evolution reaction in defect-engineered B/P-incorporated cobalt-oxide electrocatalysts
Crystalline defects; Electrocatalyst; Kinetic study; OER; Oxygen vacancy; Water splitting
Defect-rich transition-metal oxide electrocatalysts hold great promise for alkaline water electrolysis due to their enhanced activity and stability. This study presents a new strategy that significantly improve the OER activity of Co-oxide nanosheets through incorporation of B and P (B/P-CoOx NS), eventually leading to abundant surface defects and oxygen vacancies. The B/P-CoOx NS demonstrates low overpotential of 220 mV to achieve 10 mA/cm2. The electrochemical and kinetic studies coupled with conventional morphological and structural characterizations, reveal that various crystalline defects like vacancies, dislocations, twin planes, and grain boundaries play crucial roles in promoting the OH? ion adsorption, the formation of intermediates, and the desorption of oxygen molecules. The industrial viability of the developed electrocatalyst is substantiated through assessments under harsh industrial conditions of 6 M KOH at 60 C in a zero-gap single-cell alkaline electrolyzer which achieves 1 A/cm2 at 1.95 V. Chronoamperometry tests (100 h) highlight remarkable robustness of the electrocatalyst. This work establishes a new strategy to fabricate defect-rich OER electrocatalysts, setting a precedent to achieve better OER rates with non-noble materials. 2024
Bhide A.; Gupta S.; Bhabal R.; Patel M.; Bahri M.; Fernandes R.; Patel N.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtener.2024.101638 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85197747365&doi=10.1016%2fj.mtener.2024.101638&partnerID=40&md5=33016e03829a85944e93ed73a8b2235d
Bhide A., Department of Physics and Electronics, Christ University, Bengaluru, 560029, India, Department of Materials, Design and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GH, United Kingdom; Gupta S., Advanced Materials Department, Joef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, Ljubljana, 1000, Slovenia; Bhabal R., Department of Physics and Electronics, Christ University, Bengaluru, 560029, India; Patel M., Department of Materials, Design and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GH, United Kingdom; Bahri M., Albert Crewe Centre for Electron Microscopy, University of Liverpool, Brownlow Hill, Liverpool, L69 3GL, United Kingdom; Fernandes R., Department of Physics and Electronics, Christ University, Bengaluru, 560029, India; Patel N., Department of Physics and Electronics, Christ University, Bengaluru, 560029, India