Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

High-Performance Titanium Oxynitride Thin Films for Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation

Journal Article · · ACS Applied Energy Materials
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [1]
  1. North Carolina A & T State Univ., Greensboro, NC (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
  2. Pittsburg State Univ., Pittsburg, KS (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Energy and Transportation Sciences Division
TiNxOy (TiNO) thin films with superior electrochemical properties have been synthesized in situ using a pulsed laser deposition method and a varied oxygen partial pressure from 5 to 25 mTorr. In this study, the electrochemical overpotential of these TiNO films for water oxidation was found to be as low as 290 mV at 10 mA/cm2, which is among the lowest overpotential values reported. The Tafel slopes, indicative of a rate of increase of electrode potential with respect to current, for these films are determined to be in the range of 85–57 mV/decade. These results further demonstrate the superiority of TiNO thin film as electrocatalyst for water oxidation to generate fossil-free fuels. The improvement in the electrocatalytic behavior of the semiconducting TiNO thin films is explained based on an adjustment in the valence band maximum edge and an enhancement in the number of electrochemically active sites. Both effects are realized by the substitution of N by O, forming a TiNO lattice that is isostructural with the rock-salt TiN lattice. These findings appear to assume significant importance in light of water electrolysis to produce fuels for the development of environmentally friendly power sources.
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1648935
Journal Information:
ACS Applied Energy Materials, Journal Name: ACS Applied Energy Materials Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 3; ISSN 2574-0962
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (78)

Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy book April 2017
Formation of Oxynitride as the Photocatalytic Enhancing Site in Nitrogen-Doped Titania Nanocatalysts: Comparison to a Commercial Nanopowder journal January 2005
Metal Nitride/Graphene Nanohybrids: General Synthesis and Multifunctional Titanium Nitride/Graphene Electrocatalyst journal October 2011
Formation of Prussian-Blue-Analog Nanocages via a Direct Etching Method and their Conversion into Ni-Co-Mixed Oxide for Enhanced Oxygen Evolution journal March 2016
Trinary Layered Double Hydroxides as High-Performance Bifunctional Materials for Oxygen Electrocatalysis journal May 2015
Ultrathin Spinel-Structured Nanosheets Rich in Oxygen Deficiencies for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation journal May 2015
Amorphous Fe−Co−P−C Film on a Carbon Fiber Paper Support as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction journal May 2019
Flexible Molecular Precursors for Selective Decomposition to Nickel Sulfide or Nickel Phosphide for Water Splitting and Supercapacitance journal February 2020
Electrochemical and thermal oxidation of TiN coatings studied by XPS journal July 1995
Titanium Dioxide/Electrolyte Solution Interface: Electron Transfer Phenomena journal July 2000
Structural and dielectric properties of ion beam deposited titanium oxynitride thin films journal September 2018
Electrical and optical properties of titanium oxynitride thin films journal January 2020
Enhancement in corrosion resistance and vibration damping performance in titanium by titanium nitride coating journal April 2020
XPS study of the nitrides, oxides and oxynitrides of titanium journal March 1992
XPS analysis of adsorption of oxygen molecules on the surface of Ti and TiNx films in vacuum journal April 1992
Alkali- and hydrogen ion sensing properties of LPCVD silicon oxynitride thin films journal February 2003
Structural, magnetic and magnetotransport properties of bi-epitaxial La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (110) thin films integrated on Si (001) journal March 2016
Promoting electrocatalytic overall water splitting with nanohybrid of transition metal nitride-oxynitride journal February 2019
Structured titanium oxynitride (TiO N ) nanotube arrays for a continuous electrocatalytic phenol-degradation process: Synthesis, characterization, mechanisms and the chemical reaction micro-kinetics journal November 2019
Effect of ambient gas on structural and optical properties of titanium oxynitride films journal April 2010
Fabrication, characterization, and mechanism of vertically aligned titanium nitride nanowires journal November 2012
Analysis of nitrogen species in titanium oxynitride ALD films journal September 2016
Morphological data on soft ferromagnetic Fe90Ta10 thin films journal December 2019
Nonlinear electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for solid oxide fuel cell cathode materials journal January 2006
Electrochemical oxidation behavior of titanium nitride based electrocatalysts under PEM fuel cell conditions journal December 2010
A Carbon-Support-Free Titanium Oxynitride Catalyst for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Cathodes journal October 2016
Preparation of new titanium oxy nitride based electro catalysts using an anhydrous sol-gel method for water electrolysis in acid medium journal May 2012
Effect of solvent for tailoring the nanomorphology of multinary CuCo2S4 for overall water splitting and energy storage journal May 2019
Visible light induced electron transfer process over nitrogen doped TiO2 nanocrystals prepared by oxidation of titanium nitride journal August 2008
Magnetic and electrical properties of Fe90Ta10 thin films journal November 2019
Corrosion Protective Conversion Coatings on Magnesium Disks Using a Hydrothermal Technique journal January 2014
Titanium oxynitride films for a bipolar plate of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell prepared by inductively coupled plasma assisted reactive sputtering journal September 2009
Partial oxidation of TiN coating by hydrothermal treatment and ozone treatment to improve its osteoconductivity journal February 2016
Cobalt sulfide nanoparticles: Synthesis, water splitting and supercapacitance studies journal April 2020
Performance of titanium oxynitrides in the electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction journal November 2016
Quantum interference effects in titanium nitride films at low temperatures journal July 2019
Room Temperature Growth of Epitaxial Titanium Nitride Films by Pulsed Laser Deposition journal October 2017
Challenges in Co-Alloyed Titanium Oxynitrides, a Promising Class of Photochemically Active Materials journal October 2015
Energetics at the Surface of Photoelectrodes and Its Influence on the Photoelectrochemical Properties journal September 2015
Catalysts and Reaction Pathways for the Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide journal September 2015
Physical and Chemical Defects in WO 3 Thin Films and Their Impact on Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting journal October 2018
Oxynitride Thin Films versus Particle-Based Photoanodes: A Comparative Study for Photoelectrochemical Solar Water Splitting journal December 2018
Manganese Doping of MoSe 2 Promotes Active Defect Sites for Hydrogen Evolution journal June 2019
Amorphous Molybdenum Sulfide Catalysts for Electrochemical Hydrogen Production: Insights into the Origin of their Catalytic Activity journal August 2012
Catalyzing the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) with Molybdenum Sulfide Nanomaterials journal October 2014
Visible Light-Driven Pure Water Splitting by a Nature-Inspired Organic Semiconductor-Based System
  • Martin, David James; Reardon, Philip James Thomas; Moniz, Savio J. A.
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 136, Issue 36 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja506386e
journal August 2014
Designed Formation of Co 3 O 4 /NiCo 2 O 4 Double-Shelled Nanocages with Enhanced Pseudocapacitive and Electrocatalytic Properties journal April 2015
Efficient Water Oxidation Using CoMnP Nanoparticles journal March 2016
Photocatalytic Water Splitting: Recent Progress and Future Challenges journal September 2010
Electrochemical Photolysis of Water at a Semiconductor Electrode journal July 1972
Nickel–vanadium monolayer double hydroxide for efficient electrochemical water oxidation journal June 2016
Functional links between stability and reactivity of strontium ruthenate single crystals during oxygen evolution journal June 2014
Exfoliation of layered double hydroxides for enhanced oxygen evolution catalysis journal July 2014
Reversible adapting layer produces robust single-crystal electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution journal August 2015
Noble metal-free hydrogen evolution catalysts for water splitting journal January 2015
Facile synthesis and morphogenesis of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for high-performance supercapacitor applications journal January 2014
A new approach to prepare highly active and stable black titania for visible light-assisted hydrogen production journal January 2015
Titanium oxynitride microspheres with the rock-salt structure for use as visible-light photocatalysts journal January 2016
High-performance electrolytic oxygen evolution with a seamless armor core–shell FeCoNi oxynitride journal January 2019
Structural and magnetoresistance properties of La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 thin films on buffered silicon substrates journal February 2001
Scaling exponent within the side-jump mechanism of Hall effect size-dependence in Ni nanocrystals journal September 2008
The initial stages of the oxidation of titanium nitride journal January 1992
Effect of substrate temperature on the microstructural properties of titanium nitride nanowires grown by pulsed laser deposition journal August 2014
Structure, electronic properties, and oxygen incorporation/diffusion characteristics of the Σ 5 TiN(310)[001] tilt grain boundary journal February 2018
Magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of Fe 2 Ta thin films journal February 2020
Formation of thin superconducting films by the laser processing method journal November 1987
Changing the physical and chemical properties of titanium oxynitrides TiN 1 − x O x by changing the composition journal November 2009
Single Crystalline Oxygen-free Titanium Nitride by XPS journal December 2013
Combining theory and experiment in electrocatalysis: Insights into materials design journal January 2017
A highly active and stable IrO x /SrIrO 3 catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction journal September 2016
Band-Gap Narrowing of Titanium Dioxide by Nitrogen Doping journal June 2001
Facile Synthesis of Bio-Templated Tubular Co 3 O 4 Microstructure and Its Electrochemical Performance in Aqueous Electrolytes journal May 2020
Influence of Gold Catalyst on the Growth of Titanium Nitride Nanowires journal October 2018
Z-scheme photocatalyst systems for water splitting under visible light irradiation journal January 2011
Oxynitride materials for solar water splitting journal January 2011
Fast and efficient molecular electrocatalysts for H 2 production: Using hydrogenase enzymes as guides journal January 2011
Metal oxide nanomaterials for solar hydrogen generation from photoelectrochemical water splitting journal January 2011
Water Oxidation Catalysts: The Quest for New Oxide-Based Materials journal February 2019