Work

High-Throughput Compositional Tuning of Thin-Film (La,Ca)MnO 3 Perovskites as Bifunctional Oxygen Catalysts

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: Systematic investigations of composition-dependent performance in thin-film material libraries help to understand how descriptors influence performance and enable materials optimization. The fundamental challenges of such studies are the discrete synthesis of multiple compositions within one material family and the subsequent characterization steps, which are time-consuming and limit experimental throughput. In this work, the A-site-substituted thin-film (La,Ca)MnO 3 (LCMO) material family is studied for oxygen electrocatalysis performance. Discrete synthesis is circumvented by a combinatorial pulsed laser deposition approach, enabling the synthesis of the full material family within a single deposition. High-throughput characterization methods, including X-ray diffraction, spectroscopic ellipsometry, and Raman spectroscopy, allow assessment of structural, optical, and vibrational properties. Electrocatalytic performance, including oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity and stability in terms of dissolution, is probed using a scanning flow cell coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SFC-ICP-MS). Principal component analysis (PCA) is used to identify correlations between structural, optical, and vibrational descriptors and electrochemical performance. The analysis reveals distinct composition-property-performance relationships, demonstrating that the A-site composition of LCMO governs activity. This work establishes a workflow that combines combinatorial synthesis, physicochemical and functional characterization, and multivariate data analysis to identify performance-relevant descriptors in oxide electrocatalysts.

Source: ChemRxiv

DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv.15010072/v1