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Title: Water oxidation by size selected Co27 clusters supported on Fe2O3

Abstract

The complexity of the water oxidation reaction makes understanding the role of individual catalytic sites critical to improving the process. Here, size-selected 27-atom cobalt clusters (Co-27) deposited on hematite (Fe2O3) anodes were tested for water oxidation activity. The uniformity of these anodes allows measurement of the activity of catalytic sites of well-defined nuclearity and known density. Grazing incidence X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (GIXANES) characterization of the anodes before and after electrochemical cycling demonstrates that these Co-27 clusters are stable to dissolution even in the harsh water oxidation electrochemical environment. They are also stable under illumination at the equivalent of 0.4suns irradiation. The clusters show turnover rates for water oxidation that are comparable or higher than those reported for Pd- and Co-based materials or for hematite. The support for the Co-27 clusters is Fe2O3 grown by atomic layer deposition on a Si chip. We have chosen to deposit a Fe2O3 layer that is only a few unit cells thick (2nm), to remove complications related to exciton diffusion. We find that the electrocatalytic and the photoelectrocatalytic activity of the Co-27/Fe2O3 material is significantly improved when the samples are annealed (with the clusters already deposited). Given that the support is thin and thatmore » the cluster deposition density is equivalent to approximately 5% of an atomic monolayer, we suggest that annealing may significantly improve the exciton diffusion from the support to the catalytic moiety.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [5]
  1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Materials Science Division; Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Argonne-Northwestern Solar Energy Research (ANSER) Center
  2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Materials Science Division
  3. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Energy Systems Division
  4. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). X-Ray Sciences Division
  5. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Nanoscience and Technology Division
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Argonne-Northwestern Solar Energy Research Center (ANSER); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Light Energy Activated Redox Processes (LEAP)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1352624
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1356628
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-06CH11357; SC0001059
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
ChemSusChem
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 20; Journal ID: ISSN 1864-5631
Publisher:
ChemPubSoc Europe
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Fe2O3; electrocatalysis; photoelectrocatalysis; subnanometer cobalt cluster; water oxidation

Citation Formats

Pellin, Michael J., Riha, Shannon C., Tyo, Eric C., Kwon, Gihan, Libera, Joseph A., Elam, Jeffrey W., Seifert, Soenke, Lee, Sungsik, and Vajda, Stefan. Water oxidation by size selected Co27 clusters supported on Fe2O3. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1002/cssc.201600982.
Pellin, Michael J., Riha, Shannon C., Tyo, Eric C., Kwon, Gihan, Libera, Joseph A., Elam, Jeffrey W., Seifert, Soenke, Lee, Sungsik, & Vajda, Stefan. Water oxidation by size selected Co27 clusters supported on Fe2O3. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201600982
Pellin, Michael J., Riha, Shannon C., Tyo, Eric C., Kwon, Gihan, Libera, Joseph A., Elam, Jeffrey W., Seifert, Soenke, Lee, Sungsik, and Vajda, Stefan. 2016. "Water oxidation by size selected Co27 clusters supported on Fe2O3". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201600982. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1352624.
@article{osti_1352624,
title = {Water oxidation by size selected Co27 clusters supported on Fe2O3},
author = {Pellin, Michael J. and Riha, Shannon C. and Tyo, Eric C. and Kwon, Gihan and Libera, Joseph A. and Elam, Jeffrey W. and Seifert, Soenke and Lee, Sungsik and Vajda, Stefan},
abstractNote = {The complexity of the water oxidation reaction makes understanding the role of individual catalytic sites critical to improving the process. Here, size-selected 27-atom cobalt clusters (Co-27) deposited on hematite (Fe2O3) anodes were tested for water oxidation activity. The uniformity of these anodes allows measurement of the activity of catalytic sites of well-defined nuclearity and known density. Grazing incidence X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (GIXANES) characterization of the anodes before and after electrochemical cycling demonstrates that these Co-27 clusters are stable to dissolution even in the harsh water oxidation electrochemical environment. They are also stable under illumination at the equivalent of 0.4suns irradiation. The clusters show turnover rates for water oxidation that are comparable or higher than those reported for Pd- and Co-based materials or for hematite. The support for the Co-27 clusters is Fe2O3 grown by atomic layer deposition on a Si chip. We have chosen to deposit a Fe2O3 layer that is only a few unit cells thick (2nm), to remove complications related to exciton diffusion. We find that the electrocatalytic and the photoelectrocatalytic activity of the Co-27/Fe2O3 material is significantly improved when the samples are annealed (with the clusters already deposited). Given that the support is thin and that the cluster deposition density is equivalent to approximately 5% of an atomic monolayer, we suggest that annealing may significantly improve the exciton diffusion from the support to the catalytic moiety.},
doi = {10.1002/cssc.201600982},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1352624}, journal = {ChemSusChem},
issn = {1864-5631},
number = 20,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Sep 22 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Thu Sep 22 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Metal Nanoclusters: New Paradigm in Catalysis for Water Splitting, Solar and Chemical Energy Conversion
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Perspective: Size selected clusters for catalysis and electrochemistry
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