Defect-enriched iron fluoride-oxide nanoporous thin films bifunctional catalyst for water splitting

Xiujun Fan (), Yuanyue Liu, Shuai Chen, Jianjian Shi, Juanjuan Wang, Ailing Fan, Wenyan Zan, Sidian Li, William A. Goddard and Xian-Ming Zhang ()
Additional contact information
Xiujun Fan: Institute of Crystalline Materials, Shanxi University
Yuanyue Liu: The University of Texas at Austin
Shuai Chen: Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science
Jianjian Shi: The University of Texas at Austin
Juanjuan Wang: Scientific Instrument Center, Shanxi University
Ailing Fan: Beijing University of Technology
Wenyan Zan: Institute of Molecular Science, Shanxi University
Sidian Li: Institute of Molecular Science, Shanxi University
William A. Goddard: The Resnick Sustainability Institute, California Institute of Technology
Xian-Ming Zhang: Institute of Crystalline Materials, Shanxi University

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Developing cost-effective electrocatalysts operated in the same electrolyte for water splitting, including oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions, is important for clean energy technology and devices. Defects in electrocatalysts strongly influence their chemical properties and electronic structures, and can dramatically improve electrocatalytic performance. However, the development of defect-activated electrocatalyst with an efficient and stable water electrolysis activity in alkaline medium remains a challenge, and the understanding of catalytic origin is still limited. Here, we highlight defect-enriched bifunctional eletrocatalyst, namely, three-dimensional iron fluoride-oxide nanoporous films, fabricated by anodization/fluorination process. The heterogeneous films with high electrical conductivity possess embedded disorder phases in crystalline lattices, and contain numerous scattered defects, including interphase boundaries, stacking faults, oxygen vacancies, and dislocations on the surfaces/interface. The heterocatalysts efficiently catalyze water splitting in basic electrolyte with remarkable stability. Experimental studies and first-principle calculations suggest that the surface/edge defects contribute significantly to their high performance.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04248-y 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:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-04248-y

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

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04248-y

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 ().