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Title: Water electrolysis on La1-xSrxCoO3-δ perovskite electrocatalysts

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11053· OSTI ID:1261341
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [4];  [2];  [1];  [5]
  1. Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX (United States)
  2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  3. Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow (Russia); Univ. of Antwerp, Antwerp (Belgium)
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  5. Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX (United States); Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow (Russia)

Perovskite oxides are attractive candidates as catalysts for the electrolysis of water in alkaline energy storage and conversion systems. However, the rational design of active catalysts has been hampered by the lack of understanding of the mechanism of water electrolysis on perovskite surfaces. Key parameters that have been overlooked include the role of oxygen vacancies, B–O bond covalency, and redox activity of lattice oxygen species. In this paper, we present a series of cobaltite perovskites where the covalency of the Co–O bond and the concentration of oxygen vacancies are controlled through Sr2+ substitution into La1-xSrxCoO3-δ. In addition, we attempt to rationalize the high activities of La1-xSrxCoO3-δ through the electronic structure and participation of lattice oxygen in the mechanism of water electrolysis as revealed through ab initio modelling. Using this approach, we report a material, SrCoO2.7, with a high, room temperature-specific activity and mass activity towards alkaline water electrolysis.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Fluid Interface Reactions, Structures and Transport Center (FIRST)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1261341
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1324110
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 7; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 700 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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