Activating cobalt(II) oxide nanorods for efficient electrocatalysis by strain engineering

Tao Ling, Dong-Yang Yan, Hui Wang, Yan Jiao, Zhenpeng Hu, Yao Zheng, Lirong Zheng, Jing Mao, Hui Liu, Xi-Wen Du, Mietek Jaroniec and Shi-Zhang Qiao ()
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Tao Ling: Institute of New-Energy, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University
Dong-Yang Yan: Institute of New-Energy, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University
Hui Wang: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University
Yan Jiao: The University of Adelaide
Zhenpeng Hu: Nankai University
Yao Zheng: The University of Adelaide
Lirong Zheng: Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jing Mao: Institute of New-Energy, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University
Hui Liu: Institute of New-Energy, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University
Xi-Wen Du: Institute of New-Energy, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University
Mietek Jaroniec: Kent State University, Kent
Shi-Zhang Qiao: Institute of New-Energy, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Designing high-performance and cost-effective electrocatalysts toward oxygen evolution and hydrogen evolution reactions in water–alkali electrolyzers is pivotal for large-scale and sustainable hydrogen production. Earth-abundant transition metal oxide-based catalysts are particularly active for oxygen evolution reaction; however, they are generally considered inactive toward hydrogen evolution reaction. Here, we show that strain engineering of the outermost surface of cobalt(II) oxide nanorods can turn them into efficient electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction. They are competitive with the best electrocatalysts for this reaction in alkaline media so far. Our theoretical and experimental results demonstrate that the tensile strain strongly couples the atomic, electronic structure properties and the activity of the cobalt(II) oxide surface, which results in the creation of a large quantity of oxygen vacancies that facilitate water dissociation, and fine tunes the electronic structure to weaken hydrogen adsorption toward the optimum region.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01872-y

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