Sustainable oxygen evolution electrocatalysis in aqueous 1 M H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> with earth abundant nanostructured Co<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 35896541.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-022-32024-6 and PMC identifier 9329283.
- 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
Earth-abundant electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) able to work in acidic working conditions are elusive. While many first-row transition metal oxides are competitive in alkaline media, most of them just dissolve or become inactive at high proton concentrations where hydrogen evolution is preferred. Only noble-metal catalysts, such as IrO<sub>2</sub>, are fast and stable enough in acidic media. Herein, we report the excellent activity and long-term stability of Co<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>-based anodes in 1 M H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> (pH 0.1) when processed in a partially hydrophobic carbon-based protecting matrix. These Co<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>@C composites reliably drive O<sub>2</sub> evolution a 10 mA cm<sup>-2</sup> current density for >40 h without appearance of performance fatigue, successfully passing benchmarking protocols without incorporating noble metals. Our strategy opens an alternative venue towards fast, energy efficient acid-media water oxidation electrodes.