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  • Ultrafine oxygen-defective iridium oxide nanoclusters for efficient and durable water oxidation at high current densities in acidic media
Title: Ultrafine oxygen-defective iridium oxide nanoclusters for efficient and durable water oxidation at high current densities in acidic media
Iridium oxide (IrO 2 ) is one of the best known electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) taking place in a strongly acidic solution. IrO 2 nanocatalysts with high activity as well as long-term catalytic stability, particularly at high current densities, are highly desirable for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEM-WE). Here, we report a simple and cost-effective strategy for depositing ultrafine oxygen-defective IrO x nanoclusters (1–2 nm) on a high-surface-area, acid-stable titanium current collector (H-Ti@IrO x ), through a repeated impregnation–annealing process. The high catalytically active surface area resulting from the small size of IrO x and the preferable electronic structure originating from the presence of oxygen defects enable the outstanding OER performance of H-Ti@IrO x , with low overpotentials of 277 and 336 mV to deliver 10 and 200 mA cm −2 in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 . Moreover, H-Ti@IrO x also shows an intrinsic specific activity of 0.04 mA cm catalyst −2 and superior mass activity of 1500 A g Ir −1 at an overpotential of 350 mV. Comprehensive experimental studies and density functional theory calculations confirm the important role of oxygen defects in the enhanced OER performance. Remarkably, H-Ti@IrO x can continuously catalyze the OER in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 at 200 mA cm −2 for 130 hours with minimal degradation, and with a higher IrO x loading, it can sustain at such a high current density for over 500 hours without significant performance decay, holding substantial promise for use in PEM-WE.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2029442 1900039
NSF-PAR ID:
10287911
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Materials Chemistry A
Volume:
8
Issue:
46
ISSN:
2050-7488
Page Range / eLocation ID:
24743 to 24751
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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