Modifying redox properties and local bonding of Co<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> by CeO<sub>2</sub> enhances oxygen evolution catalysis in acid.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 34031417.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-23390-8 and PMC identifier 8144612.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Developing efficient and stable earth-abundant electrocatalysts for acidic oxygen evolution reaction is the bottleneck for water splitting using proton exchange membrane electrolyzers. Here, we show that nanocrystalline CeO2 in a Co3O4/CeO2 nanocomposite can modify the redox properties of Co3O4 and enhances its intrinsic oxygen evolution reaction activity, and combine electrochemical and structural characterizations including kinetic isotope effect, pH- and temperature-dependence, in situ Raman and ex situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy analyses to understand the origin. The local bonding environment of Co3O4 can be modified after the introduction of nanocrystalline CeO2, which allows the CoIII species to be easily oxidized into catalytically active CoIV species, bypassing the potential-determining surface reconstruction process. Co3O4/CeO2 displays a comparable stability to Co3O4 thus breaks the activity/stability tradeoff. This work not only establishes an efficient earth-abundant catalysts for acidic oxygen evolution reaction, but also provides strategies for designing more active catalysts for other reactions.