Issue 44, 2018

Tunable nano-interfaces between MnOx and layered double hydroxides boost oxygen evolving electrocatalysis

Abstract

The development of low overpotential, non-precious metal oxide electrocatalysts is important for sustainable water oxidation using renewable energy. Here we report the fabrication of nano-interfaces between MnOx nanoscale islands and NiFe layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets, which were chosen as baseline electrocatalysts for OER activity tuning. The MnOx nano-islands were grown on the surfaces of NiFe-LDH nanosheets by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Morphological and structural characterization indicated that the MnOx formed flat nanoscale islands which uniformly covered the surfaces of NiFe-LDH nanosheets, giving rise to a large density of three-dimensional nano-interfaces at the NiFe-LDH/MnOx/electrolyte multi-phase boundaries. We showed by X-ray spectroscopic characterization that these nano-interfaces induced electronic interactions between NiFe-LDH nanosheets and MnOx nano-islands. Through such modifications, the Fermi level of the original NiFe-LDH was lowered by donating electrons to the MnOx nano-islands, dramatically boosting the OER performance of these electron-deficient NiFe-LDH catalysts. Using only 10 cycles of ALD MnOx, the MnOx/NiFe-LDH nanocomposites exhibited remarkable and enhanced electrocatalytic activity with an overpotential of 174 mV at 10 mA cm−2. This work demonstrates a promising pathway for tuning transition metal electrocatalysts via a generic ALD surface modification technique.

Graphical abstract: Tunable nano-interfaces between MnOx and layered double hydroxides boost oxygen evolving electrocatalysis

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
02 Aug. 2018
Accepted
03 Sept. 2018
First published
05 Sept. 2018

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2018,6, 21918-21926

Author version available

Tunable nano-interfaces between MnOx and layered double hydroxides boost oxygen evolving electrocatalysis

Y. Xue, Z. S. Fishman, J. A. Röhr, Z. Pan, Y. Wang, C. Zhang, S. Zheng, Y. Zhang and S. Hu, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2018, 6, 21918 DOI: 10.1039/C8TA07508E

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