Dynamic Tuning of a Thin Film Electrocatalyst by Tensile Strain
Abstract
We report the ability to tune the catalytic activities for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) by applying mechanical stress on a highly n-type doped rutile TiO2 films. We demonstrate through operando electrochemical experiments that the low HER activity of TiO2 can reversibly approach those of the state-of-the-art non-precious metal catalysts when the TiO2 is under tensile strain. At 3% tensile strain, the HER overpotential required to generate a current density of 1 mA/cm2 shifts anodically by 260 mV to give an onset potential of 125 mV, representing a drastic reduction in the kinetic overpotential. A similar albeit smaller cathodic shift in the OER overpotential is observed when tensile strain is applied to TiO2. Results suggest that significant improvements in HER and OER activities with tensile strain are due to an increase in concentration of surface active sites and a decrease in kinetic and thermodynamics barriers along the reaction pathway(s). Our results highlight that strain applied to TiO2 by precisely controlled and incrementally increasing (i.e. dynamic) tensile stress is an effective tool for dynamically tuning the electrocatalytic properties of HER and OER electrocatalysts relative to their activities under static conditions.
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1575191
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-2700-73802
Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Scientific Reports
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; titanium dioxide; tensile strain; water splitting; electrocatalysis
Citation Formats
Benson, Eric E., Ha, Mai -Anh, Gregg, Brian. A., van de Lagemaat, Jao, Neale, Nathan R., and Svedruzic, Drazenka. Dynamic Tuning of a Thin Film Electrocatalyst by Tensile Strain. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-52245-y.
Benson, Eric E., Ha, Mai -Anh, Gregg, Brian. A., van de Lagemaat, Jao, Neale, Nathan R., & Svedruzic, Drazenka. Dynamic Tuning of a Thin Film Electrocatalyst by Tensile Strain. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-52245-y
Benson, Eric E., Ha, Mai -Anh, Gregg, Brian. A., van de Lagemaat, Jao, Neale, Nathan R., and Svedruzic, Drazenka. Mon .
"Dynamic Tuning of a Thin Film Electrocatalyst by Tensile Strain". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-52245-y. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1575191.
@article{osti_1575191,
title = {Dynamic Tuning of a Thin Film Electrocatalyst by Tensile Strain},
author = {Benson, Eric E. and Ha, Mai -Anh and Gregg, Brian. A. and van de Lagemaat, Jao and Neale, Nathan R. and Svedruzic, Drazenka},
abstractNote = {We report the ability to tune the catalytic activities for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) by applying mechanical stress on a highly n-type doped rutile TiO2 films. We demonstrate through operando electrochemical experiments that the low HER activity of TiO2 can reversibly approach those of the state-of-the-art non-precious metal catalysts when the TiO2 is under tensile strain. At 3% tensile strain, the HER overpotential required to generate a current density of 1 mA/cm2 shifts anodically by 260 mV to give an onset potential of 125 mV, representing a drastic reduction in the kinetic overpotential. A similar albeit smaller cathodic shift in the OER overpotential is observed when tensile strain is applied to TiO2. Results suggest that significant improvements in HER and OER activities with tensile strain are due to an increase in concentration of surface active sites and a decrease in kinetic and thermodynamics barriers along the reaction pathway(s). Our results highlight that strain applied to TiO2 by precisely controlled and incrementally increasing (i.e. dynamic) tensile stress is an effective tool for dynamically tuning the electrocatalytic properties of HER and OER electrocatalysts relative to their activities under static conditions.},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-019-52245-y},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
number = 1,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Nov 04 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Mon Nov 04 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
Other availability
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Cited by: 19 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Web of Science
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.
Works referenced in this record:
Elastic strain engineering for unprecedented materials properties
journal, February 2014
- Li, Ju; Shan, Zhiwei; Ma, Evan
- MRS Bulletin, Vol. 39, Issue 2
Strain-controlled electrocatalysis on multimetallic nanomaterials
journal, September 2017
- Luo, Mingchuan; Guo, Shaojun
- Nature Reviews Materials, Vol. 2, Issue 11
Tuning Surface Properties of Low Dimensional Materials via Strain Engineering
journal, July 2016
- Yang, Shengchun; Liu, Fuzhu; Wu, Chao
- Small, Vol. 12, Issue 30
One-dimensional conductive IrO 2 nanocrystals
journal, April 2006
- Chen, Reui-San; Korotcov, Alexandru; Huang, Ying-Sheng
- Nanotechnology, Vol. 17, Issue 9
Electrochemical CO 2 Reduction over Compressively Strained CuAg Surface Alloys with Enhanced Multi-Carbon Oxygenate Selectivity
journal, October 2017
- Clark, Ezra L.; Hahn, Christopher; Jaramillo, Thomas F.
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 139, Issue 44
Electrochemical tuning of layered lithium transition metal oxides for improvement of oxygen evolution reaction
journal, July 2014
- Lu, Zhiyi; Wang, Haotian; Kong, Desheng
- Nature Communications, Vol. 5, Issue 1
Role of Elastic Strain on Electrocatalysis of Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Pt
journal, August 2015
- Sethuraman, Vijay A.; Vairavapandian, Deepa; Lafouresse, Manon C.
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 119, Issue 33
A graded catalytic–protective layer for an efficient and stable water-splitting photocathode
journal, January 2017
- Gu, Jing; Aguiar, Jeffery A.; Ferrere, Suzanne
- Nature Energy, Vol. 2, Issue 2
Role of Strain and Conductivity in Oxygen Electrocatalysis on LaCoO 3 Thin Films
journal, January 2015
- Stoerzinger, Kelsey A.; Choi, Woo Seok; Jeen, Hyoungjeen
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 6, Issue 3
Enhanced Bifunctional Oxygen Catalysis in Strained LaNiO 3 Perovskites
journal, February 2016
- Petrie, Jonathan R.; Cooper, Valentino R.; Freeland, John W.
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 138, Issue 8
Tunable intrinsic strain in two-dimensional transition metal electrocatalysts
journal, February 2019
- Wang, Lei; Zeng, Zhenhua; Gao, Wenpei
- Science, Vol. 363, Issue 6429
Strain and Ligand Effects on CO 2 Reduction Reactions over Cu–Metal Heterostructure Catalysts
journal, September 2017
- Liu, Fuzhu; Wu, Chao; Yang, Shengchun
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 121, Issue 40
Strain Effect in Bimetallic Electrocatalysts in the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
journal, April 2018
- Wang, Xuesi; Zhu, Yihan; Vasileff, Anthony
- ACS Energy Letters, Vol. 3, Issue 5
Soft and stretchable electrochemical biosensors
journal, August 2019
- Zhai, Q.; Cheng, W.
- Materials Today Nano, Vol. 7
Mechanical modulation of reaction rates in electrocatalysis
journal, January 2014
- Deng, Qibo; Smetanin, Maxim; Weissmüller, Jörg
- Journal of Catalysis, Vol. 309
High Elastic Strain Directly Tunes the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction on Tungsten Carbide
journal, March 2017
- Yan, Kai; Kim, Seok Ki; Khorshidi, Alireza
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 121, Issue 11
The Influence of Elastic Strain on Catalytic Activity in the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
journal, April 2016
- Yan, Kai; Maark, Tuhina Adit; Khorshidi, Alireza
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 55, Issue 21
Efficient Hydrogen Evolution by Mechanically Strained MoS 2 Nanosheets
journal, August 2014
- Lee, Ji Hoon; Jang, Woo Soon; Han, Sun Woong
- Langmuir, Vol. 30, Issue 32
Elastic strain effects on catalysis of a PdCuSi metallic glass thin film
journal, January 2015
- Yang, Yiyi; Adit Maark, Tuhina; Peterson, Andrew
- Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Vol. 17, Issue 3
Elastic strain effects on the catalytic response of Pt and Pd thin films deposited on Pd–Zr metallic glass
journal, May 2017
- Yang, Yiyi; Kumar, K. Sharvan
- Journal of Materials Research, Vol. 32, Issue 14
Mechano-Electrochemistry and Fuel-Forming Mechano-Electrocatalysis on Spring Electrodes
journal, August 2014
- Svedruzic, Drazenka; Gregg, Brian A.
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 118, Issue 33
Mechanoelectrochemical Catalysis of the Effect of Elastic Strain on a Platinum Nanofilm for the ORR Exerted by a Shape Memory Alloy Substrate
journal, June 2015
- Du, Minshu; Cui, Lishan; Cao, Yi
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 137, Issue 23
Strain Engineering to Modify the Electrochemistry of Energy Storage Electrodes
journal, June 2016
- Muralidharan, Nitin; Carter, Rachel; Oakes, Landon
- Scientific Reports, Vol. 6, Issue 1
Controlling Surface Reactions with Nanopatterned Surface Elastic Strain
journal, December 2014
- Li, Zhisheng; Potapenko, Denis V.; Osgood, Richard M.
- ACS Nano, Vol. 9, Issue 1
Correlation of H Adsorption Energy and Nanoscale Elastic Surface Strain on Rutile TiO 2 (110)
journal, September 2016
- Potapenko, Denis V.; Gomes, Gisele T.; Osgood, Richard M.
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 120, Issue 38
Direct and continuous strain control of catalysts with tunable battery electrode materials
journal, November 2016
- Wang, Haotian; Xu, Shicheng; Tsai, Charlie
- Science, Vol. 354, Issue 6315
Lithium Electrochemical Tuning for Electrocatalysis
journal, September 2018
- Lu, Zhiyi; Jiang, Kun; Chen, Guangxu
- Advanced Materials, Vol. 30, Issue 48
Electrochemical tuning of vertically aligned MoS2 nanofilms and its application in improving hydrogen evolution reaction
journal, November 2013
- Wang, H.; Lu, Z.; Xu, S.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 110, Issue 49
Effect of Strain on the Reactivity of Metal Surfaces
journal, September 1998
- Mavrikakis, M.; Hammer, B.; Nørskov, J. K.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 81, Issue 13
Competing strain effects in reactivity of with oxygen
journal, September 2010
- Kushima, Akihiro; Yip, Sidney; Yildiz, Bilge
- Physical Review B, Vol. 82, Issue 11
Tunable Mechanochemistry of Lithium Battery Electrodes
journal, May 2017
- Muralidharan, Nitin; Brock, Casey N.; Cohn, Adam P.
- ACS Nano, Vol. 11, Issue 6
Interplay between External Strain and Oxygen Vacancies on a Rutile Surface
journal, September 2008
- Shu, Da-Jun; Ge, Shu-Ting; Wang, Mu
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 101, Issue 11
Influence of strain on water adsorption and dissociation on rutile TiO 2 (110) surface
journal, January 2016
- Yang, Long; Shu, Da-Jun; Li, Shao-Chun
- Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Vol. 18, Issue 22
Enhancing Perovskite Electrocatalysis through Strain Tuning of the Oxygen Deficiency
journal, June 2016
- Petrie, Jonathan R.; Jeen, Hyoungjeen; Barron, Sara C.
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 138, Issue 23
Semiconductor-to-Metal Transition in Rutile TiO 2 Induced by Tensile Strain
journal, February 2017
- Benson, Eric E.; Miller, Elisa M.; Nanayakkara, Sanjini U.
- Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 29, Issue 5
Activating cobalt(II) oxide nanorods for efficient electrocatalysis by strain engineering
journal, November 2017
- Ling, Tao; Yan, Dong-Yang; Wang, Hui
- Nature Communications, Vol. 8, Issue 1
Strain effect on diffusion properties of oxygen vacancies in bulk and subsurface of rutile TiO2
journal, February 2012
- Wang, Zhao-Wu; Shu, Da-Jun; Wang, Mu
- Surface Science, Vol. 606, Issue 3-4
Polaron-enhanced giant strain effect on defect formation: The case of oxygen vacancies in rutile
journal, January 2019
- Zheng, Yi-Feng; Chen, Shiyou; Yang, Ji-Hui
- Physical Review B, Vol. 99, Issue 1
Role of Surface Stress on the Reactivity of Anatase TiO 2 (001)
journal, April 2017
- Shi, Yongliang; Sun, Huijuan; Saidi, Wissam A.
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 8, Issue 8
Insight on Tafel slopes from a microkinetic analysis of aqueous electrocatalysis for energy conversion
journal, September 2015
- Shinagawa, Tatsuya; Garcia-Esparza, Angel T.; Takanabe, Kazuhiro
- Scientific Reports, Vol. 5, Issue 1
Investigation on the Kinetics of Electroreduction Processes at Dark TiO[sub 2] and SrTiO[sub 3] Single Crystal Semiconductor Electrodes
journal, January 1980
- Vandermolen, J.
- Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 127, Issue 2
Mechanisms of Charge Transfer at the Semiconductor-Electrolyte Interface
journal, January 1984
- Salvador, P.
- Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 131, Issue 2
Benchmarking Hydrogen Evolving Reaction and Oxygen Evolving Reaction Electrocatalysts for Solar Water Splitting Devices
journal, March 2015
- McCrory, Charles C. L.; Jung, Suho; Ferrer, Ivonne M.
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 137, Issue 13
Combining theory and experiment in electrocatalysis: Insights into materials design
journal, January 2017
- Seh, Zhi Wei; Kibsgaard, Jakob; Dickens, Colin F.
- Science, Vol. 355, Issue 6321
Earth-abundant catalysts for electrochemical and photoelectrochemical water splitting
journal, January 2017
- Roger, Isolda; Shipman, Michael A.; Symes, Mark D.
- Nature Reviews Chemistry, Vol. 1, Issue 1
Uncovering the Effect of Lattice Strain and Oxygen Deficiency on Electrocatalytic Activity of Perovskite Cobaltite Thin Films
journal, January 2019
- Liu, Xi; Zhang, Lei; Zheng, Yun
- Advanced Science, Vol. 6, Issue 6
Oxygen Vacancies as Active Sites for Water Dissociation on Rutile
journal, December 2001
- Schaub, R.; Thostrup, P.; Lopez, N.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 87, Issue 26
Ti3+ Defect Sites on TiO2(110): Production and Chemical Detection of Active Sites
journal, November 1994
- Lu, G.; Linsebigler, A.; Yates, J. T.
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry, Vol. 98, Issue 45
Electronic factors determining the reactivity of metal surfaces
journal, December 1995
- Hammer, B.; Nørskov, J. K.
- Surface Science, Vol. 343, Issue 3
Hydrogen motion in rutile TiO2
journal, December 2017
- Hupfer, A. J.; Monakhov, E. V.; Svensson, B. G.
- Scientific Reports, Vol. 7, Issue 1
Lithium Electrochemical Tuning for Electrocatalysis
journal, September 2018
- Lu, Zhiyi; Jiang, Kun; Chen, Guangxu
- Advanced Materials, Vol. 30, Issue 48
Uncovering the Effect of Lattice Strain and Oxygen Deficiency on Electrocatalytic Activity of Perovskite Cobaltite Thin Films
journal, January 2019
- Liu, Xi; Zhang, Lei; Zheng, Yun
- Advanced Science, Vol. 6, Issue 6
The Influence of Elastic Strain on Catalytic Activity in the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
journal, April 2016
- Yan, Kai; Maark, Tuhina Adit; Khorshidi, Alireza
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 55, Issue 21
Tuning Surface Properties of Low Dimensional Materials via Strain Engineering
journal, July 2016
- Yang, Shengchun; Liu, Fuzhu; Wu, Chao
- Small, Vol. 12, Issue 30
Mechanical modulation of reaction rates in electrocatalysis
journal, January 2014
- Deng, Qibo; Smetanin, Maxim; Weissmüller, Jörg
- Journal of Catalysis, Vol. 309
Strain effect on diffusion properties of oxygen vacancies in bulk and subsurface of rutile TiO2
journal, February 2012
- Wang, Zhao-Wu; Shu, Da-Jun; Wang, Mu
- Surface Science, Vol. 606, Issue 3-4
Semiconductor-to-Metal Transition in Rutile TiO 2 Induced by Tensile Strain
journal, February 2017
- Benson, Eric E.; Miller, Elisa M.; Nanayakkara, Sanjini U.
- Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 29, Issue 5
Correlation of H Adsorption Energy and Nanoscale Elastic Surface Strain on Rutile TiO 2 (110)
journal, September 2016
- Potapenko, Denis V.; Gomes, Gisele T.; Osgood, Richard M.
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 120, Issue 38
High Elastic Strain Directly Tunes the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction on Tungsten Carbide
journal, March 2017
- Yan, Kai; Kim, Seok Ki; Khorshidi, Alireza
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 121, Issue 11
Strain and Ligand Effects on CO 2 Reduction Reactions over Cu–Metal Heterostructure Catalysts
journal, September 2017
- Liu, Fuzhu; Wu, Chao; Yang, Shengchun
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 121, Issue 40
Role of Surface Stress on the Reactivity of Anatase TiO 2 (001)
journal, April 2017
- Shi, Yongliang; Sun, Huijuan; Saidi, Wissam A.
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 8, Issue 8
Tunable Mechanochemistry of Lithium Battery Electrodes
journal, May 2017
- Muralidharan, Nitin; Brock, Casey N.; Cohn, Adam P.
- ACS Nano, Vol. 11, Issue 6
Ti3+ Defect Sites on TiO2(110): Production and Chemical Detection of Active Sites
journal, November 1994
- Lu, G.; Linsebigler, A.; Yates, J. T.
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry, Vol. 98, Issue 45
Benchmarking Hydrogen Evolving Reaction and Oxygen Evolving Reaction Electrocatalysts for Solar Water Splitting Devices
journal, March 2015
- McCrory, Charles C. L.; Jung, Suho; Ferrer, Ivonne M.
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 137, Issue 13
Role of Strain and Conductivity in Oxygen Electrocatalysis on LaCoO 3 Thin Films
journal, January 2015
- Stoerzinger, Kelsey A.; Choi, Woo Seok; Jeen, Hyoungjeen
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 6, Issue 3
Efficient Hydrogen Evolution by Mechanically Strained MoS 2 Nanosheets
journal, August 2014
- Lee, Ji Hoon; Jang, Woo Soon; Han, Sun Woong
- Langmuir, Vol. 30, Issue 32
Strain-controlled electrocatalysis on multimetallic nanomaterials
journal, September 2017
- Luo, Mingchuan; Guo, Shaojun
- Nature Reviews Materials, Vol. 2, Issue 11
Activating cobalt(II) oxide nanorods for efficient electrocatalysis by strain engineering
journal, November 2017
- Ling, Tao; Yan, Dong-Yang; Wang, Hui
- Nature Communications, Vol. 8, Issue 1
Earth-abundant catalysts for electrochemical and photoelectrochemical water splitting
journal, January 2017
- Roger, Isolda; Shipman, Michael A.; Symes, Mark D.
- Nature Reviews Chemistry, Vol. 1, Issue 1
Chemical reactions on rutile TiO2(110)
journal, January 2008
- Lun Pang, Chi; Lindsay, Robert; Thornton, Geoff
- Chemical Society Reviews, Vol. 37, Issue 10
Defective TiO2 with oxygen vacancies: synthesis, properties and photocatalytic applications
journal, January 2013
- Pan, Xiaoyang; Yang, Min-Quan; Fu, Xianzhi
- Nanoscale, Vol. 5, Issue 9
Correction: Elastic strain effects on catalysis of a PdCuSi metallic glass thin film
journal, January 2017
- Yang, Yiyi; Adit Maark, Tuhina; Peterson, Andrew
- Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Vol. 19, Issue 18
The role of mechanical force on the kinetics and dynamics of electrochemical redox reactions on graphene
journal, January 2018
- Raghuraman, Shivaranjan; Soleymaniha, Mohammadreza; Ye, Zhijiang
- Nanoscale, Vol. 10, Issue 37
Tuning the oxygen evolution reaction on a nickel–iron alloy via active straining
journal, January 2019
- Wang, Anqi; Zhao, Zhonglong; Hu, Di
- Nanoscale, Vol. 11, Issue 2
Electrochemical tuning of vertically aligned MoS2 nanofilms and its application in improving hydrogen evolution reaction
journal, November 2013
- Wang, H.; Lu, Z.; Xu, S.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 110, Issue 49
Role of Strain and Ligand Effects in the Modification of the Electronic and Chemical Properties of Bimetallic Surfaces
journal, October 2004
- Kitchin, J. R.; Nørskov, J. K.; Barteau, M. A.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 93, Issue 15
Combining theory and experiment in electrocatalysis: Insights into materials design
journal, January 2017
- Seh, Zhi Wei; Kibsgaard, Jakob; Dickens, Colin F.
- Science, Vol. 355, Issue 6321
Tunable intrinsic strain in two-dimensional transition metal electrocatalysts
journal, February 2019
- Wang, Lei; Zeng, Zhenhua; Gao, Wenpei
- Science, Vol. 363, Issue 6429
Mechanisms of Charge Transfer at the Semiconductor-Electrolyte Interface
journal, January 1984
- Salvador, P.
- Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 131, Issue 2
Investigation on the Kinetics of Electroreduction Processes at Dark TiO[sub 2] and SrTiO[sub 3] Single Crystal Semiconductor Electrodes
journal, January 1980
- Vandermolen, J.
- Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 127, Issue 2
Elastic strain engineering for unprecedented materials properties
journal, February 2014
- Li, Ju; Shan, Zhiwei; Ma, Evan
- MRS Bulletin, Vol. 39, Issue 2
Enhanced bifunctional oxygen catalysis in strained LaNiO3 perovskites
text, January 2016
- Petrie, Jonathan R.; Cooper, Valentino R.; Freeland, John W.
- arXiv
Enhancing Perovskite Electrocatalysis through Strain Tuning of the Oxygen Deficiency
text, January 2016
- Petrie, Jonathan R.; Jeen, Hyoungjeen; Barron, Sara C.
- arXiv