Discovering Ce-rich oxygen evolution catalysts, from high throughput screening to water electrolysis
Abstract
We report a new Ce-rich family of active oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts composed of earth abundant elements, discovered using high-throughput methods. High resolution inkjet printing was used to produce 5456 discrete oxide compositions containing the elements nickel, iron, cobalt and cerium. The catalytic performance of each of these compositions was measured under conditions applicable to distributed solar fuels generation using a three-electrode scanning drop electrochemical cell. The catalytic activity and stability of representative compositions (Ni_(0.5)Fe_(0.3)Co_(0.17)Ce_(0.03)O_x and Ni_(0.3)Fe^(0.07)Co_(0.2)Ce_(0.43)O_x) from 2 distinct regions were verified by resynthesizing these compositions on glassy carbon rods for electrochemical testing. The activity of the new Ce-rich catalysts was further verified using an unrelated synthetic method to electrodeposit a pseudo-ternary composition Ni_(0.2)Co_(0.3)Ce_(0.5)O_x, which produced a catalyst with 10 mA cm^(−2) oxygen evolution current at 310 mV overpotential. The unique Tafel behavior of these Ce-rich catalysts affords the opportunity for further improvement.
Additional Information
© 2014 Royal Society of Chemistry. Received 9th November 2013. Accepted 3rd January 2014. This material is based upon work performed by the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, a DOE Energy Innovation Hub, supported through the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (Award no. DE-SC0004993). The authors thank Charles McCrory for assistance with acquisition, analysis and interpretation of traditional electrochemistry on rotating disc electrodes; Dan Guevarra for assistance with high throughput electrochemistry experiments; Paul Newhouse for assistance with preparation of glassy carbon rods for printing; William West and Chris Karp for assistance with electrolyzer testbed faradaic efficiency and headspace measurements; Martin Marcin for assistance with assembly of high throughput electrochemistry experiments; the Microanalytical Center in the College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley for ICP-OES measurements; Karl Walczak for preparation of the NiMo cathode used in the testbed system; and the U. S. Army Research Laboratory for providing the anion exchange membrane used in the testbed system.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - c3ee43683g.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 44502
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20140325-130923791
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- DE-SC0004993
- Created
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2014-04-01Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- JCAP