Bubble-water/catalyst triphase interface microenvironment accelerates photocatalytic OER via optimizing semi-hydrophobic OH radical

Guanhua Ren, Min Zhou, Peijun Hu, Jian-Fu Chen and Haifeng Wang ()
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Guanhua Ren: East China University of Science and Technology
Min Zhou: East China University of Science and Technology
Peijun Hu: East China University of Science and Technology
Jian-Fu Chen: East China University of Science and Technology
Haifeng Wang: East China University of Science and Technology

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Photocatalytic water splitting (PWS) as the holy grail reaction for solar-to-chemical energy conversion is challenged by sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at water/catalyst interface. Experimental evidence interestingly shows that temperature can significantly accelerate OER, but the atomic-level mechanism remains elusive in both experiment and theory. In contrast to the traditional Arrhenius-type temperature dependence, we quantitatively prove for the first time that the temperature-induced interface microenvironment variation, particularly the formation of bubble-water/TiO2(110) triphase interface, has a drastic influence on optimizing the OER kinetics. We demonstrate that liquid-vapor coexistence state creates a disordered and loose hydrogen-bond network while preserving the proton transfer channel, which greatly facilitates the formation of semi-hydrophobic •OH radical and O-O coupling, thereby accelerating OER. Furthermore, we propose that adding a hydrophobic substance onto TiO2(110) can manipulate the local microenvironment to enhance OER without additional thermal energy input. This result could open new possibilities for PWS catalyst design.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46749-z

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