Grain boundary engineering for efficient and durable electrocatalysis

Xin Geng (), Miquel Vega-Paredes, Zhenyu Wang (), Colin Ophus, Pengfei Lu, Yan Ma, Siyuan Zhang, Christina Scheu, Christian H. Liebscher and Baptiste Gault ()
Additional contact information
Xin Geng: Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials
Miquel Vega-Paredes: Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials
Zhenyu Wang: Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials
Colin Ophus: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Pengfei Lu: Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Yan Ma: Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials
Siyuan Zhang: Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials
Christina Scheu: Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials
Christian H. Liebscher: Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials
Baptiste Gault: Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Grain boundaries in noble metal catalysts have been identified as critical sites for enhancing catalytic activity in electrochemical reactions such as the oxygen reduction reaction. However, conventional methods to modify grain boundary density often alter particle size, shape, and morphology, obscuring the specific role of grain boundaries in catalytic performance. This study addresses these challenges by employing gold nanoparticle assemblies to control grain boundary density through the manipulation of nanoparticle collision frequency during synthesis. We demonstrate a direct correlation between increased grain boundary density and enhanced two-electron oxygen reduction reaction activity, achieving a significant improvement in both specific and mass activity. Additionally, the gold nanoparticle assemblies with high grain boundary density exhibit remarkable electrochemical stability, attributed to boron segregation at the grain boundaries, which prevents structural degradation. This work provides a promising strategy for optimizing the activity, selectivity, and stability of noble metal catalysts through precise grain boundary engineering.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-52919-w Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-52919-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52919-w

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().