Projektdaten

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Construction of highly-ordered nanoarrays as oxygen evolution reaction electrodes and investigation of electron transfer kinetics at solid-liquid interface

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The over-reliance on the fossil fuels to produce energy has resulted in the deterioration of climate and environment. Electrochemical water splitting for hydrogen production is taking the central stage as the most viable option of electrochemical energy conversion technology. The bottleneck in improving the efficiency of this technology is oxygen evolution reaction (OER), as it suffers severe kinetic limitations due to the multiple proton and electron transfer as weil as the formation of two oxygen-oxygen bonds. Hence, understanding and optimizing OER play a key role in developing this technology. The OER performance is in principle determined by the electronic behaviors at the solid-liquid interface (SLI) and the resulting kinetics, for which architectures of the OER electrodes are undoubtedly critical. In this project, we propose to construct highly ordered nanoarrays (HONAs) as the architecture of electrocatalysts to realize high-performance OER electrodes, on the basis of the prominent features of the HONAs that shall solve the existing difficulties of electron transfer du ring the elemental steps of the OER process. We will investigate the interfacial electron transfer kinetics at the SLI by employing scanning electrochemical microscopy as a local in-situ analyzing method, combined with ex-situ methods and density functional theory (OFT) calculations. We aim understanding the interplay between local str??ctures/compositions and local reactivity in the OER process and achieving the electrode optimization. Furthermore, we will apply the obtained understanding and optimization to other electrochemical energy systems, amplifying the benefits of HONAs and the acquired knowledge. The accomplishment of this project shall lead to significant progress in the fundamental research and device applications in the fields where SLI is a determining factor.