A highly active and stable IrO _x /SrIrO ₃ catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction

Journal Article · Fri Sep 02 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf5050· OSTI ID:1619836

Seitz, Linsey C. ^[1]; Dickens, Colin F. ^[2]; Nishio, Kazunori ^[3]; Hikita, Yasuyuki ^[4]; Montoya, Joseph ^[5]; Doyle, Andrew ^[5]; Kirk, Charlotte ^[5]; Vojvodic, Aleksandra ^[5]; Hwang, Harold Y. ^[3]; Norskov, Jens K. ^[2]; Jaramillo, Thomas F. ^[2]

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1. SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis, Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Shriram Center, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
2. SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis, Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Shriram Center, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305, USA., SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
3. Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA., Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, 476 Lomita Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
4. Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
5. SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.

Oxygen electrochemistry plays a key role in renewable energy technologies such as fuel cells and electrolyzers, but the slow kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) limit the performance and commercialization of such devices. Here we report an iridium oxide/strontium iridium oxide (IrO_x/SrIrO₃) catalyst formed during electrochemical testing by strontium leaching from surface layers of thin films of SrIrO₃. This catalyst has demonstrated specific activity at 10 milliamps per square centimeter of oxide catalyst (OER current normalized to catalyst surface area), with only 270 to 290 millivolts of overpotential for 30 hours of continuous testing in acidic electrolyte. Here, density functional theory calculations suggest the formation of highly active surface layers during strontium leaching with IrO₃ or anatase IrO₂ motifs. The IrO_x/SrIrO₃ catalyst outperforms known IrO_x and ruthenium oxide (RuO_x) systems, the only other OER catalysts that have reasonable activity in acidic electrolyte.

• Research Organization: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center on Nanostructuring for Efficient Energy Conversion (CNEEC); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0001060; AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 1619836
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1349300
• Journal Information: Science, Journal Name: Science Vol. 353 Journal Issue: 6303; ISSN 0036-8075
• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY