Chemical and electronic structure analysis of a SrTiO3(001)/p-Ge (001) hydrogen evolution photocathode

Germanium is a small-gap semiconductor that efficiently absorbs visible light, resulting in photoexcited electrons predicted to be sufficiently energetic to reduce H 2 O for H 2 gas evolution. In order to protect the surface from corrosion and prevent surface charge recombination in contact with aqueous pH 7 electrolyte, we grew epitaxial SrTiO 3 layers of different thicknesses on p-Ge (001) surfaces. Four-nanometer SrTiO 3 allows photogenerated electrons to reach the surface and evolve H 2 gas, while 13 nm SrTiO 3 blocks these electrons. Ambient pressure x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicates that the surface readily dissociates H 2 O to form OH species, which may impact surface band bending

Seed-mediated atomic-scale reconstruction of silver manganate nanoplates for oxygen reduction towards high-energy aluminum-air flow batteries

Aluminum-air batteries are promising candidates for next-generation high-energy-density storage, but the inherent limitations hinder their practical use. Here, we show that silver nanoparticle-mediated silver manganate nanoplates are a highly active and chemically stable catalyst for oxygen reduction in alkaline media. By means of atomic-resolved transmission electron microscopy, we find that the formation of stripe patterns on the surface of a silver manganate nanoplate originates from the zigzag atomic arrangement of silver and manganese, creating a high concentration of dislocations in the crystal lattice. This structure can provide high electrical conductivity with low electrode resistance and abundant active sites for ion adsorption. The catalyst exhibits outstanding performance in a flow-based aluminum-air battery, demonstrating high gravimetric and volumetric energy densities of similar to 2552 Wh kg(Al)(-1) and similar to 6890 Wh I-Al(-1) at 100 mA cm(-2), as well as high stability during a mechanical recharging process

Unusual synergistic effect in layered Ruddlesden-Popper oxide enables ultrafast hydrogen evolution

Efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction are key to realize clean hydrogen production through water splitting. As an important family of functional materials, transition metal oxides are generally believed inactive towards hydrogen evolution reaction, although many of them show high activity for oxygen evolution reaction. Here we report the remarkable electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction of a layered metal oxide, Ruddlesden-Popper-type Sr2RuO4 with alternative perovskite layer and rock-salt SrO layer, in an alkaline solution, which is comparable to those of the best electrocatalysts ever reported. By theoretical calculations, such excellent activity is attributed mainly to an unusual synergistic effect in the layered structure, whereby the (001) SrO-terminated surface cleaved in rock-salt layer facilitates a barrier-free water dissociation while the active apical oxygen site in perovskite layer promotes favorable hydrogen adsorption and evolution. Moreover, the activity of such layered oxide can be further improved by electrochemistry-induced activation

Screening highly active perovskites for hydrogen-evolving reaction via unifying ionic electronegativity descriptor

[[abstract]]Facile and reliable screening of cost-effective, high-performance and scalable electrocatalysts is key for energy conversion technologies such as water splitting. ABO3-δ perovskites, with rich constitutions and structures, have never been designed via activity descriptors for critical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, we apply coordination rationales to introduce A-site ionic electronegativity (AIE) as an efficient unifying descriptor to predict the HER activities of 13 cobalt-based perovskites. Compared with A-site structural or thermodynamic parameter, AIE endows the HER activity with the best volcano trend. (Gd0.5La0.5)BaCo2O5.5+δ predicted from an AIE value of ~2.33 exceeds the state-of-the-art Pt/C catalyst in electrode activity and stability. X-ray absorption and computational studies reveal that the peak HER activities at a moderate AIE value of ~2.33 can be associated with the optimal electronic states of active B-sites via inductive effect in perovskite structure (~200 nm depth), including Co valence, Co-O bond covalency, band gap and O 2p-band position.[[notice]]補正完

Optimizing Oxygen Reduction Catalyst Morphologies from First Principles

Catalytic activity of perovskites for oxygen reduction (ORR) was recently correlated with bulk d-electron occupancy of the transition metal. We expand on the resultant model, which successfully reproduces the high activity of LaMnO[subscript 3] relative to other perovskites, by addressing catalyst surface morphology as an important aspect of the optimal ORR catalyst. The nature of reaction sites on low index surfaces of orthorhombic (Pnma) LaMnO[subscript 3] is established from First Principles. The adsorption of O[subscript 2] is markedly influenced by local geometry and strong electron correlation. Only one of the six reactions sites that result from experimentally confirmed symmetry-breaking Jahn–Teller distortions is found to bind O[subscript 2] with an intermediate binding energy while facilitating the formation of superoxide, an important ORR intermediate in alkaline media. As demonstrated here for LaMnO[subscript 3], rational design of the catalyst morphology to promote specific active sites is a highly effective optimization strategy for advanced functional ORR catalysts

Trends in activity and dissolution on RuO2 under oxygen evolution conditions: particles versus well-defined extended surfaces

Rutile RuO2 catalysts are the most active pure metal oxides for oxygen evolution; however, they are also unstable toward dissolution. Herein, we study the catalytic activity and stability of oriented thin films of RuO2 with (111), (101), and (001) orientations, in comparison to a (110) single crystal and commercial nanoparticles. These surfaces were all tested in aqueous solutions of 0.05 M H2SO4. The initial catalyst activity ranked as follows: (001) > (101) > (111) ≈ (110). We complemented our activity data with inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy, to measure Ru dissolution products occurring in parallel to oxygen evolution. In contrast to earlier reports, we find that, under our experimental conditions, there is no correlation between the activity and stability

Near-Ambient Pressure XPS of Higherature Surface Chemistry in Sr2Co2O5 Thin Films

Transition metal perovskite oxides are promising electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells, but a lack of fundamental understanding of oxide surfaces impedes the rational design of novel catalysts with improved device efficiencies. In particular, understanding the surface chemistry of oxides is essential for controlling both catalytic activity and long-term stability. Thus, elucidating the physical nature of species on perovskite surfaces and their catalytic enhancement would generate new insights in developing oxide electrocatalysts. In this article, we perform near-ambient pressure XPS of model brownmillerite Sr Co O (SCO) epitaxial thin films with different crystallographic orientations. Detailed analysis of the Co 2p spectra suggests that the films lose oxygen as a function of temperature. Moreover, deconvolution of the O 1s spectra shows distinct behavior for (114)-oriented SCO films compared to (001)-oriented SCO films, where an additional bulk oxygen species is observed. These findings indicate a change to a perovskite-like oxygen chemistry that occurs more easily in (114) SCO than (001) SCO, likely due to the orientation of oxygen vacancy channels out-of-plane with respect to the film surface. This difference in surface chemistry is responsible for the anisotropy of the oxygen surface exchange coefficient of SCO and may contribute to the enhanced ORR kinetics of La Sr CoO thin films by SCO surface particles observed previously. 2 2 5 0.8 0.2 3-