Thermodynamic explanation of the universal correlation between oxygen evolution activity and corrosion of oxide catalysts

In recent years, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) has attracted increased research interest due to its crucial role in electrochemical energy conversion devices for renewable energy applications. The vast majority of OER catalyst materials investigated are metal oxides of various compositions. The experimental results obtained on such materials strongly suggest the existence of a fundamental and universal correlation between the oxygen evolution activity and the corrosion of metal oxides. This corrosion manifests itself in structural changes and/or dissolution of the material. We prove from basic thermodynamic considerations that any metal oxide must become unstable under oxygen evolution conditions irrespective of the pH value. The reason is the thermodynamic instability of the oxygen anion in the metal oxide lattice. Our findings explain many of the experimentally observed corrosion phenomena on different metal oxide OER catalysts

Enhanced electrolytic generation of oxygen gas at binary nickel oxide–cobalt oxide nanoparticle-modified electrodes

This study addresses the enhancement of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on glassy carbon, Au, and Pt electrodes modified with binary catalysts composed of nickel oxide nanoparticles (nano-NiOx) and cobalt oxide nanoparticles (nano-CoOx). Binary NiOx/CoOx-modified electrodes (with NiOx initially deposited) show a high catalytic activity and a marked stability which far exceeds that obtained at the individual oxide-modified electrodes. This enhancement is demonstrated by a marked negative shift (more than ca. 600 mV) in the onset potential of the OER compared to that obtained at the unmodified electrodes. The modified electrodes show a significantly higher long-term stability, over a period of 5 h of continuous electrolysis, without any significant loss of activity towards the OER in alkaline medium. The influence of the solution pH, the loading level, and sequence of deposition of each oxide on the electrocatalytic activity of the modified electrodes is addressed with an aim to maximize the catalytic activity of the modified electrodes towards the OER. SEM imaging is used to disclose the size and morphology of the fabricated nano-NiOx and nano-CoOx binary catalysts at the electrode surface