Interfacial engineering regulated by CeOx to boost efficiently alkaline overall water splitting and acidic hydrogen evolution reaction

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2021.12.049

Abstract

Abstract:

Development of a low-cost and durable bifunctional electrocatalyst with high catalytic activity by hybridizing rare earth metal and non-noble metal is of utmost significance. Herein, a bifunctional electrocatalyst consisting of MoO₂ and CeO_x heterostructure is synthesized via interfacial engineering. Particularly, due to its unique hetero-interface with abundant oxygen vacancies, the MoO₂-CeO_x/NF is able to exhibit outstanding hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance with an overpotential of 26 mV at 10 mA cm^-2, and a preferable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) overpotential of 272 mV at 100 mA cm^-2 in 1 M KOH. The recorded HER and OER overpotentials of MoO₂-CeO_x/NF are clearly smaller than those of Pt/C (HER overpotential of 27 mV) and RuO₂ (OER overpotential of 393 mV) at the same current density. More importantly, MoO₂-CeO_x/NF can also exhibit good HER activity with an overpotential of 50 mV at 10 mA cm^-2 in acidic media. Thus, it is expected that this work can offer a new approach in the realization of high-catalytic alkaline overall water splitting and acidic HER performance through the rational design of rare-earth metal and non-noble metal heterostructure.

Key words: Heterostructure, Oxygen vacancies, Cerium oxideOverall water splitting

Jian Chen, Zhen Hu, Yang Ou, Qinghua Zhang, Xiaopeng Qi, Lin Gu, Tongxiang Liang. Interfacial engineering regulated by CeO_x to boost efficiently alkaline overall water splitting and acidic hydrogen evolution reaction[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2022, 120: 129-138.

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1. (a) Synthesis strategy for the formation of MoO2-CeOx/NF catalyst. SEM image of (b) MoO2-CeOx/NF; (c, d) TEM image of MoO2-CeOx/NF, (e) SAED images, (f, g) HR-TEM image of MoO2-CeOx/NF, (h) electron image and the corresponding elemental mappings of (i) Mo, (j) O, (k) Ce, and (l) Ni for MoO2-CeOx/NF.

Fig. 2. (a) XRD spectra and (b) survey XPS spectra of MoO2-CeOx/NF, MoO2/NF, and CeOx/NF. (c) Mo 3d XPS spectra of MoO2/NF and MoO2-CeOx/NF. (d) O 1 s XPS spectra of MoO2-CeOx/NF, MoO2/NF, and CeOx/NF. (e) Ce 3d XPS spectra of MoO2-CeOx/NF and CeOx/NF. (f) Ni 2p XPS spectra of MoO2-CeOx/NF, MoO2/NF, and CeOx/NF.

Fig. 3. (a) LSV curves and (b) Tafel plots, (c) Nyquist plots conducted at 100.0 mV (V vs. RHE) of MoO2-CeOx/NF, MoO2/NF, CeOx/NF, Pt/C, and NF, (d) Cdl of MoO2-CeOx/NF, MoO2/NF, CeOx/NF, and NF, (e) TOFs of MoO2-CeOx/NF, MoO2/NF, CeOx/NF, Pt/C, and NF, and (f) the stability of MoO2-CeOx/NF and Pt/C at -10.0 mA cm-2 in 1.0 M KOH.

Fig. 4. (a) LSV curves and the (b) corresponding overpotentials at 100 mA cm-2, (c) Tafel plots of MoO2-CeOx/NF, MoO2/NF, CeOx/NF, RuO2 and NF, (d) stability of MoO2-CeOx/NF and RuO2 at 100.0 mA cm-2 during a continuous operation in 1.0 M KOH. (e) LSV curves of Pt/C@NF//RuO2@NF, MoO2/NF//MoO2/NF and MoO2-CeOx/NF//MoO2-CeOx/NF for the overall water splitting process without iR compensation, and (f) stability of MoO2-CeOx/NF//MoO2-CeOx/NF and MoO2/NF//MoO2/NF at 20 mA cm-2 in 1.0 M KOH.

Fig. 5. (a) GC and water splitting device, (b) Quantity of H2 and O2 tested by GC method in 1.0 M KOH. (c) LSV curves and (d) Tafel plots, (e) Nyquist plots conducted at 100.0 mV (V vs. RHE) of MoO2-CeOx/NF, MoO2/NF, CeOx/NF, Pt/C, and NF, and the (f) stability of MoO2-CeOx/NF and Pt/C at -10.0 mA cm-2 in 0.5 M H2SO4.

Fig. 6. Calculation model diagrams of (a) MoO2, (b) Vo-MoO2, (c) CeOx and (d) Vo-MoO2-CeOx, PDOS programs of (e) MoO2, Vo-MoO2, CeOx and Vo-MoO2-CeOx.

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