skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Electrocatalytic Study of the Oxygen Reduction Reaction at Gold Nanoparticles in the Absence and Presence of Interactions with SnOx Supports

Journal Article · · Journal of the American Chemical Society
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.8b08036· OSTI ID:1617148

Here we report that density functional theory (DFT) can be used to accurately predict how Au nanoparticle (NP) catalysts cooperate with SnOx (x = 1.9 or 2.0) supports to carry out the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Specifically, dendrimers were used to encapsulate AuNPs and prevent their interactions with the underlying SnOx supports. After removal of the dendrimers, however, the AuNPs are brought into direct contact with the support and hence feel its effect. The results show that both SnO1.9 and SnO2.0 supports strongly enhance the electrocatalytic properties of AuNPs for the ORR. In the case of AuNP interaction with a SnO1.9 support, the number of electrons involved in the ORR (neff) increases from 2.1 ± 0.2 to 2.9 ± 0.1 following removal of the dendrimers, indicating an increased preference for the desired four-electron product (water), while the overpotential decreases by 0.32 V. Similarly, direct interactions between AuNPs and a SnO2.0 support result in an increase in neff from 2.2 ± 0.1 to 3.1 ± 0.1 and a reduction of the overpotential by 0.28 V. These experimental results are in excellent agreement with the theoretically predicted onset potential shift of 0.30 V. According to the DFT calculations, the observed activity enhancements are attributed to the existence of anionic Au resulting from electron transfer from surface oxygen vacancies within the SnOx supports to the AuNPs. This theoretical finding was confirmed experimentally using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Importantly, the calculations reported here were performed prior to the experiments. Furthermore, this study represents an unusual case of theory accurately predicting the electrocatalytic manifestation of strong metal support interactions.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division; Robert A. Welch Foundation; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0010576; F-0032; F-1841
OSTI ID:
1617148
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1496830
Journal Information:
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 140, Issue 42; ISSN 0002-7863
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 35 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (60)

Synthesis and catalytic properties of metal nanoparticles: Size, shape, support, composition, and oxidation state effects journal April 2010
Advanced Electron Microscopy of Metal-Support Interactions in Supported Metal Catalysts journal June 2011
Promotion, Electrochemical Promotion and Metal–Support Interactions: Their Common Features journal October 2013
A Case of Strong Metal-Support Interactions: Combining Advanced Microscopy and Model Systems to Elucidate the Atomic Structure of Interfaces journal May 2014
Strong metal-support interactions. Group 8 noble metals supported on titanium dioxide journal January 1978
Strong metal-support interactions journal November 1987
Systematic study of transition-metal (Fe, Co, Ni, Cu) phthalocyanines as electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction and their evaluation by DFT journal January 2016
CO Oxidation at the Au/TiO 2 Boundary: The Role of the Au/Ti 5c Site journal February 2015
CO Oxidation Mechanism on CeO 2 -Supported Au Nanoparticles journal January 2012
Oxygen Reduction in Alkaline Media: From Mechanisms to Recent Advances of Catalysts journal July 2015
Au–metal oxide support interface as catalytic active sites journal January 2013
CO Oxidation on Gold-Supported Iron Oxides: New Insights into Strong Oxide–Metal Interactions journal July 2015
Tuning metal support interactions enhances the activity and durability of TiO2-supported Pt nanocatalysts journal January 2017
Metal–Support Interactions between Nanosized Pt and Metal Oxides (WO 3 and TiO 2 ) Studied Using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy journal September 2011
CO oxidation on nanostructured SnOx/Pt(111) surfaces: unique properties of reduced SnOx journal January 2012
Niobium oxide-supported platinum ultra-low amount electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction journal January 2008
Support effects on the oxidation of ethanol at Pt nanoparticles journal March 2012
Electrochemically enhanced metal-support interaction of highly dispersed Ru nanoparticles with a CeO2 support journal October 2014
Influence of TiO 2 Bulk Defects on CO Adsorption and CO Oxidation on Au/TiO 2 : Electronic Metal–Support Interactions (EMSIs) in Supported Au Catalysts journal February 2017
Enhancement in Ethanol Electrooxidation by SnO x Nanoislands Grown on Pt(111): Effect of Metal Oxide–Metal Interface Sites journal August 2011
Ternary Pt/Rh/SnO2 electrocatalysts for oxidizing ethanol to CO2 journal January 2009
Strong metal–support interaction improves activity and stability of Pt electrocatalysts on doped metal oxides journal January 2018
Nanostructured platinum becomes alloyed at oxide-composite substrate journal December 2010
Enhanced Oxygen Reduction Reaction Activity Due to Electronic Effects between Ag and Mn 3 O 4 in Alkaline Media journal June 2015
Electrooxidation of Methanol at SnO x –Pt Interface: A Tunable Activity of Tin Oxide Nanoparticles journal October 2012
Nanostructured electrocatalysts with tunable activity and selectivity journal March 2016
Electron Transfer Facilitated by Dendrimer-Encapsulated Pt Nanoparticles Across Ultrathin, Insulating Oxide Films journal May 2016
Microelectrochemical Flow Cell for Studying Electrocatalytic Reactions on Oxide-Coated Electrodes journal October 2017
On the Origin of the Efficient Nanoparticle Mediated Electron Transfer across a Self-Assembled Monolayer journal February 2011
Electrochemical charge transfer mediated by metal nanoparticles and quantum dots journal January 2011
Nanoparticle Mediated Electron Transfer Across Organic Layers: From Current Understanding to Applications journal January 2013
Electrochemistry at a Metal Nanoparticle on a Tunneling Film: A Steady-State Model of Current Densities at a Tunneling Ultramicroelectrode journal August 2015
Preparation of Cu Nanoclusters within Dendrimer Templates journal May 1998
Tunneling Dendrimers. Enhancing Charge Transport through Insulating Layer Using Redox Molecular Objects journal December 2014
Dendrimer-encapsulated nanoparticles: New synthetic and characterization methods and catalytic applications journal January 2011
Dendrimers as Encapsulating, Stabilizing, or Directing Agents for Inorganic Nanoparticles journal September 2011
State of the art in gold nanoparticle synthesis journal February 2013
Size-Selective Catalytic Activity of Pd Nanoparticles Encapsulated within End-Group Functionalized Dendrimers journal April 2005
Atomic Layer Deposition: An Overview journal January 2010
Ab initiomolecular dynamics for liquid metals journal January 1993
Efficiency of ab-initio total energy calculations for metals and semiconductors using a plane-wave basis set journal July 1996
Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set journal October 1996
Projector augmented-wave method journal December 1994
Electron-energy-loss spectra and the structural stability of nickel oxide: An LSDA+U study journal January 1998
Sources of Electrical Conductivity in SnO 2 journal July 2008
A fast and robust algorithm for Bader decomposition of charge density journal June 2006
A grid-based Bader analysis algorithm without lattice bias journal January 2009
The stability of SnO 2 surfaces journal October 1992
Special points for Brillouin-zone integrations journal June 1976
Origin of the Overpotential for Oxygen Reduction at a Fuel-Cell Cathode journal November 2004
Identifying active surface phases for metal oxide electrocatalysts: a study of manganese oxide bi-functional catalysts for oxygen reduction and water oxidation catalysis journal January 2012
Surface Pourbaix diagrams and oxygen reduction activity of Pt, Ag and Ni(111) surfaces studied by DFT journal January 2008
Electrochemical Properties of Metal-Oxide-Coated Carbon Electrodes Prepared by Atomic Layer Deposition journal November 2014
Preparation and Characterization of 1−2 nm Dendrimer-Encapsulated Gold Nanoparticles Having Very Narrow Size Distributions journal January 2004
Size Stability and H 2 /CO Selectivity for Au Nanoparticles during Electrocatalytic CO 2 Reduction journal November 2017
Au@Pt dendrimer encapsulated nanoparticles as model electrocatalysts for comparison of experiment and theory journal January 2012
A Theoretical and Experimental Approach for Correlating Nanoparticle Structure and Electrocatalytic Activity journal May 2015
Calculations of CO Oxidation over a Au/TiO 2 Catalyst: A Study of Active Sites, Catalyst Deactivation, and Moisture Effects journal January 2018
Origins of Coexistence of Conductivity and Transparency in SnO 2 journal February 2002
Electrocatalytic Reduction of Oxygen on Platinum Nanoparticles in the Presence and Absence of Interactions with the Electrode Surface journal September 2016

Cited By (2)

Interfacial effects in supported catalysts for electrocatalysis journal January 2019
Isolated Au Atom Anchored on Porous Boron Nitride as a Promising Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR): A DFT Study journal October 2019