Work

Phosphorus doping heterostructure La(OH)3@CuO @NF as an advanced electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Due to the prevailing energy shortages, the pursuit of new alternative energy sources is becoming increasingly urgent. Hydrogen production through water electrolysis has emerged as a crucial method. However, the sluggish four-electron reaction in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) remains the primary rate-limiting step. In this study, we synthesized a heterostructure La(OH) 3 @CuO-P material on the nickel foam (NF) substrate. The experimental results demonstrate that after phosphating treatment, the heterostructure La(OH) 3 @CuO-P exhibits exceptional catalytic performance with only 215 mV overpotential, a Tafel slope value of 79.36 mV/dec, and a bilayer capacitance of 39.02 mF/cm 2 at a current density of 10 mA/cm 2 for OER in a 1 M KOH solution. These values are significantly superior compared to those obtained using heterostructure La(OH) 3 @CuO alone which showed an overpotential value of 365 mV at a current density of 10 mA/cm 2 . Moreover, during cyclic voltammetry testing for up to 500 cycles, La(OH) 3 @CuO-P also demonstrates relatively stable performance. Analyses suggest that composite heterostructure effectively addresses issues such as insufficient conductivity of La(OH) 3 and monomer aggregation tendency for CuO while maintaining excellent properties for each component. By incorporating P atoms as dopants, the interaction between La, Cu, and P atoms not only facilitates fine-tuning of the electronic structure and optimization of the adsorption free energy (-OH), but also promotes an increase in catalytic active sites through sample size reduction, thereby further augmenting the performance of the OER.

Source: International Journal of Electrochemical Science

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijoes.2024.100826

Authors: Dandan Liang, Weili Hou, Ying Zhang, Jihua Shang, Haibo Ren, Yufeng Sun

Institution: Anhui Polytechnic University

Language: English

Topic: Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion

Subfield: Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

Field: Energy

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,100