Dynamic carbon surface chemistry: Revealing the role of carbon in electrolytic water oxidation

Autor: Xing Huang, Qingqing Gu, Alexander Yu. Klyushin, Yuxiao Ding, Saskia Heumann, Ioannis Spanos, Pascal Düngen, Rik Mom, Sakeb H. Choudhury, Robert Schlögl, Feihong Song, Anna K. Mechler
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Energy Chemistry
ISSN: 2095-4956
DOI: 10.1016/j.jechem.2019.12.006
Popis: Carbon materials have been widely used as electrodes, but the mechanistic roles are still not clear due to the complexity of the carbon surface chemistry. Herein we clarify that intrinsic material properties of carbon have to be activated by extrinsic factors. Pure carbon has no catalytic activity when used as electrode for electrocatalytic water oxidation. The evolution of oxygen functional groups on the carbon surface with increasing potential and the subsequent formation of real active sites with iron impurities from the electrolyte have been confirmed. These in-situ formed active sites protect the carbon from deep oxidation. This unprecedented finding not only provides insight into the dynamic evolution of carbon electrode surface chemistry and raises awareness of the need for detailed surface analysis under operando conditions, but also suggests a direction for the development of scalable and high-performance carbon-based electrode systems for various electrochemical applications.
Databáze: OpenAIRE