• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.701-705
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• 2019

Oxygen-evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline media has been considered as a key process for various energy applications. Many types of catalysts have been developed to reduce high overpotential in OER, such as metal alloys, metal oxides, perovskite, or spinel. Nickel oxide (NiO) has high potential to increase OER activity according to volcano plots. The exact mechanisms for OER has not been discovered, but defects such as cation or anion vacancy typically act as an active site for diverse electrochemical reactions. In this study, nitrogen was doped into NiO by using ethylenediamine for formation of Ni vacancy, and the effects of N doping on OER activity and stability was studied.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.120-127
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• 2022

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) has been widely used as a catalyst for the bifunctional activities of hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions (HER and OER). Here, we investigated size dependent HER and OER performance of MoS₂. The smallest size (90 nm) of MoS₂ exhibits the lowest overpotential of -0.28 V at -10 mAcm^-2 and 1.52 V at 300 mAcm^-2 with the smallest Tafel slopes of 151 and 176 mVdec^-1 for HER and OER, respectively, compared to bigger sizes (2 ㎛ and 6 ㎛) of MoS₂. The better HER and OER performance is attributed to high electrochemical active surface area (6 × 10^-4 cm²) with edge sites and low charge transfer resistance (18.1 Ω), confirming that the smaller MoS₂ nanosheets have the better catalytic behavior.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.243-251
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• 2023

Developing oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts is essential to accomplish viable CO₂ and water electrolysis. Herein, we report the fabrication and OER performance of Ni-foam (NF)-immobilized Ni₆ nanoclusters (NCs) (Ni₆/NF) prepared by a dip-coating process. The Ni₆/NF electrode exhibited a high current density of 500 mA/cm² for the OER at an overpotential as low as 0.39 V. Ni₆/NF exhibited high durability in an alkaline solution without corrosion. Electrokinetic studies revealed that OER can be easily initiated on Ni6 NC with fast electron-transfer rates. Finally, we demonstrated stable CO₂-to-CO electroreduction using an NC-based zero-gap CO₂ electrolyzer operated at a current density of 100 mA/cm² and a full-cell potential of 2.0 V for 12 h.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.339-344
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• 2022

The lattice oxygen mechanism (LOM) is considered one of the promising approaches to overcome the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER), bypassing -OOH^* coordination with a high energetic barrier. Activated lattice oxygen can participate in the OER as a reactant and enables O^*-O^* coupling for direct O₂ formation. However, such reaction kinetics inevitably include the generation of oxygen vacancies, which leads to structural degradation, and eventually shortens the lifetime of catalysts. Here, we demonstrate that Se incorporation significantly enhances OER performance and the stability of NiFe (oxy)hydroxide (NiFe) which follows the LOM pathway. In Se introduced NiFe (NiFeSe), Se forms not only metal-Se bonding but also Se-oxygen bonding by replacing oxygen sites and metal sites, respectively. As a result, transition metals show reduced valence states while oxygen shows less reduced valence states (O^-/O₂^2-) which is a clear evidence of lattice oxygen activation. By virtue of its electronic structure modulation, NiFeSe shows enhanced OER activity and long-term stability with robust active lattice oxygen compared to NiFe.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.92-97
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• 2024

To improve the efficiency of water splitting systems for hydrogen production, the high overvoltages of electrochemical reactions caused by catalysts in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER, Oxygen Evolution Reaction) must be reduced. Among them, LDH (Layered Double Hydroxide) compounds containing transition metal such as Ni, are attracting attention as catalyst materials that can replace precious metals such as platinum that are currently used. In this study, nickel foam, an inexpensive metallic porous material, was used as a support, and NiCo LDH (Layered Double Hydroxide) nanocrystals were synthesized through a hydrothermal synthesis process. In addition, changes in the shape, crystal structure, and water decomposition characteristics of the Mo-doped NiCo LDH nanocrystal samples synthesized by doping Mo to improve OER properties were observed.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.180-185
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• 2023

To improve the efficiency of water electrolysis, it is essential to develop an oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst with high performance and long-term stability, accelerating the reaction rate of OER. In this study, a hollow metal-organic framework (MOF)-derived ruthenium-cobalt oxide catalyst was developed to synthesize an efficient OER electrocatalyst. As the synthesized catalyst increases the surface exposure of ruthenium, a low overpotential (386 mV) was observed at a current density of 10 mA/cm² with a low Tafel slope. It is expected to be able to replace noble metal catalysts by showing higher mass activity and stability than commercial RuO₂ catalysts.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.143-148
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• 2021

Alkaline oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts have been widely studied for improving the efficiency and green hydrogen production through electrochemical water splitting. Transition metal-based electrocatalysts have emerged as promising materials that can significantly reduce the hydrogen production costs. Among the available electrocatalysts, transition metal-based layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have demonstrated outstanding OER performance owing to the abundant active sites and favorable adsorption-desorption energies for OER intermediates. Currently, cobalt doped nickel LDHs (NiCo LDHs) are regarded as the benchmark electrocatalyst for alkaline OER, primarily owing to the physicochemical synergetic effects between Ni and Co. We report effects of heat-treatment of the as-grown NiCo LDH on electrocatalytic activities in a temperature range from 250 to 400℃. Electrocatalytic OER properties were analysed by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The heat-treatment temperature was found to play a crucial role in catalytic activity. The optimum heat-treatment temperature was discussed with respect to their OER performance.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.408-413
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• 2022

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is very sluggish compared to the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Considering this difference is essential when designing and developing a cost-effective and facile synthesis method for a catalyst that can effectively perform OER activity. The material should possess a high surface area and more active sites. Considering these points, in this work we successfully synthesized sheets of cobalt phosphate hydrate (CP) and sulphurated cobalt phosphate hydrate (CPS) material, using simple successive ionic layered adsorption and reaction (SILAR) methods followed by sulfurization. The CP and CPS electrodes exhibited overpotentials of 279 mV with a Tafel slope of 212 mV dec^-1 and 381 mV with a Tafel slope of 212 mV dec^-1, respectively. The superior performance after sulfurization is attributed to the intrinsic activity of the deposited well-aligned nanosheet structures, which provided a substantial number of electrochemically active surface sites, speeded electron transfer, and at the same time improved the diffusion of the electrolyte.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.79-89
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• 2023

Development of efficient and stable electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) under acidic conditions is desirable goal for commercializing proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electroyzer. Herein, we report iridium-doped hydrogenated titanate (Ir-HTO) nanobelts as a promising catalyst with a low-Ir content for the acidic OER. Addition of low-Ir (~ 3.36 at%) into the single-crystalline HTO nanobelts with large exposed {100} facets significantly boost catalytic activity and stability for OER under acidic conditions. The Ir-HTO outperforms the commenrcial benchmark IrO₂ catalyst; an overpotential for delivering 10 mA cm^-2 current density was reduced to about 25% for the Ir-HTO. Moreover, the catalytic performance of Ir-HTO is positioned as the most efficient electrocatalyst for the acidic OER. An improved intrinsic catalytic activity and stability are also confirmed for the Ir-HTO through in-depth electrochemical characterizations. Therefore, our results suggest that low-Ir doped single-crystalline HTO nanobelts can be a promising catalyst for efficient and durable OER under acidic conditions.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.243-249
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• 2023

Urea oxidation reaction (UOR) via electrochemical oxidation process can replace oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for green hydrogen production since UOR has lower thermodynamic potential (0.37 V_RHE) than that of OER (1.23 V_RHE). However, in the case of UOR, 6 electrons are required for the entire UOR. For this reason, the reaction rate is slower than OER, which requires 4 electrons. In addition, it is an important challenge to develop catalysts in which both oxidation reactions (UOR and OER) are active since the active sites of OER and UOR are opposite to each other. We prove that among the NiFe₂O₄ nanoparticles synthesized by the hydrothermal method at various synthesis temperatures, NiFe₂O₄ nanoparticle with properly controlled particle size and crystallinity can actively operate OER and UOR at the same time.