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Identifying the Active Surfaces of Electrochemically Tuned LiCoO2 for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Journal Article · · Journal of the American Chemical Society
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b02622· OSTI ID:1368758
Identification of active sites for catalytic processes has both fundamental and technological implications for rational design of future catalysts. Herein, we study the active surfaces of layered lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) using the enhancement effect of electrochemical delithiation (De-LCO). Our theoretical results indicate that the most stable (0001) surface has a very large overpotential for OER independent of lithium content. In contrast, edge sites such as the nonpolar (1120) and polar (0112) surfaces are predicted to be highly active and dependent on (de)lithiation. The effect of lithium extraction from LCO on the surfaces and their OER activities can be understood by the increase of Co4+ sites relative to Co3+ and by the shift of active oxygen 2p states. Experimentally, it is demonstrated that LCO nanosheets, which dominantly expose the (0001) surface show negligible OER enhancement upon delithiation. However, a noticeable increase in OER activity (~0.1 V in overpotential shift at 10 mA cm–2) is observed for the LCO nanoparticles, where the basal plane is greatly diminished to expose the edge sites, consistent with the theoretical simulations. In addition, we find that the OER activity of De-LCO nanosheets can be improved if we adopt an acid etching method on LCO to create more active edge sites, which in turn provides a strong evidence for the theoretical indication.
Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1368758
Journal Information:
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Journal Name: Journal of the American Chemical Society Journal Issue: 17 Vol. 139; ISSN 0002-7863
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (33)

Cation insertion to break the activity/stability relationship for highly active oxygen evolution reaction catalyst journal March 2020
Cobalt Nanoparticles Embedded into N-Doped Carbon from Metal Organic Frameworks as Highly Active Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction journal May 2019
In Situ Exfoliated, N-Doped, and Edge-Rich Ultrathin Layered Double Hydroxides Nanosheets for Oxygen Evolution Reaction journal November 2017
Au Catalyzed Carbon Diffusion in Ni: A Case of Lattice Compatibility Stabilized Metastable Intermediates journal March 2018
In Situ Exfoliated, N-Doped, and Edge-Rich Ultrathin Layered Double Hydroxides Nanosheets for Oxygen Evolution Reaction journal May 2018
Physically Adsorbed Metal Ions in Porous Supports as Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction journal February 2020
Lithium Electrochemical Tuning for Electrocatalysis journal September 2018
Enhancing Electrocatalytic Water Splitting by Strain Engineering journal February 2019
Single-Crystalline Ultrathin Co 3 O 4 Nanosheets with Massive Vacancy Defects for Enhanced Electrocatalysis journal September 2017
Electronic Structure Engineering of LiCoO 2 toward Enhanced Oxygen Electrocatalysis journal February 2019
Stabilizing Co 4+ Ions in Ultrathin Cobalt Oxide Nanosheets for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction journal October 2018
Trends in Oxygen Electrocatalysis of 3 d ‐Layered (Oxy)(Hydro)Oxides journal June 2019
Integrated Ultrafine Co 0.85 Se in Carbon Nanofibers: An Efficient and Robust Bifunctional Catalyst for Oxygen Electrocatalysis journal November 2019
Design of Multi‐Metallic‐Based Electrocatalysts for Enhanced Water Oxidation journal May 2019
Template-Directed Growth of Bimetallic Prussian Blue-Analogue Nanosheet Arrays and Their Derived Porous Metal Oxides for Oxygen Evolution Reaction journal October 2018
Iron-Doped LiCoO 2 Nanosheets as Highly Efficient Electrocatalysts for Alkaline Water Oxidation: Iron-Doped LiCoO 2 Nanosheets as Highly Efficient Electrocatalysts for Alkaline Water Oxidation journal May 2019
Molten Salt Assisted Self-Assembly: Synthesis of Mesoporous LiCoO 2 and LiMn 2 O 4 Thin Films and Investigation of Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation Performance of Lithium Cobaltate journal November 2017
Super‐Exchange Interaction Induced Overall Optimization in Ferromagnetic Perovskite Oxides Enables Ultrafast Water Oxidation journal August 2019
Catalysis-Hub.org, an open electronic structure database for surface reactions journal May 2019
Transition metal oxide-based oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalysts for energy conversion systems with aqueous electrolytes journal January 2018
Electrochemically accessing ultrathin Co (oxy)-hydroxide nanosheets and operando identifying their active phase for the oxygen evolution reaction journal January 2019
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Interpreting Tafel behavior of consecutive electrochemical reactions through combined thermodynamic and steady state microkinetic approaches journal January 2020
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Short O–O separation in layered oxide Na 0.67 CoO 2 enables an ultrafast oxygen evolution reaction journal November 2019
Impact of lithiated cobalt oxide and phosphate nanoparticles on rainbow trout gill epithelial cells journal November 2018
Cation deficiency associated with the chemical exfoliation of lithium cobalt oxide journal March 2019
Exceptional oxygen evolution reactivities on CaCoO 3 and SrCoO 3 journal August 2019
Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Co/CoO x Supported on Earth-Abundant Coal-Derived Carbon for Electrocatalysis of Oxygen Evolution journal January 2019
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