Unveiling the pH-dependent structure-activity relationship of Co-based catalysts toward oxygen evolution reaction

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{
  "revision": 4, 
  "id": "1940", 
  "created": "2023-10-16T13:09:19.441488+00:00", 
  "metadata": {
    "doi": "10.24435/materialscloud:v8-hq", 
    "status": "published", 
    "title": "Unveiling the pH-dependent structure-activity relationship of Co-based catalysts toward oxygen evolution reaction", 
    "mcid": "2023.158", 
    "license_addendum": null, 
    "_files": [
      {
        "description": "This file includes the raw data for the figures in the main test (Figures 1-4), including polarization curves, Tafel plots, Tafel slope and sXAS spectra, etc.", 
        "key": "Raw data for CoIIinacid.xlsx", 
        "size": 577071, 
        "checksum": "md5:d8c84be2ebf0373abae8d0e7c8864c9d"
      }
    ], 
    "owner": 1165, 
    "_oai": {
      "id": "oai:materialscloud.org:1940"
    }, 
    "keywords": [
      "acidic oxygen evolution", 
      "structure-activity relationship", 
      "cobalt based catalyst", 
      "Co oxidation state", 
      "spin state"
    ], 
    "conceptrecid": "1939", 
    "is_last": true, 
    "references": [
      {
        "type": "Journal reference", 
        "doi": "Submitted.", 
        "citation": "J. Huang,* C. N. Borca, T. Huthwelker, N. S. Y\u00fczbasi, T. J. Schmidt and E. Fabbri* Submitted, (2023)"
      }
    ], 
    "publication_date": "Oct 17, 2023, 11:18:43", 
    "license": "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International", 
    "id": "1940", 
    "description": "Co-based catalysts are promising candidates to replace the Ir/Ru-based oxides for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in an acidic environment. However, both the reaction mechanism and the active species in an acidic environment remain unclear. In this study, by combining surface-sensitive soft X-ray adsorption spectroscopy (sXAS) characterization with electrochemical analysis, we unveil the truly active Co species for acidic OER. Surfaces composed of only high-spin Co<sup>II</sup> are found to be not active due to their unfavorable deprotonation to form Co<sup>III</sup>-OH species. In contrast, we show that the presence of low-spin Co<sup>III</sup> is essential to promote surface reconstruction and catalysis of OER. The correlation between OER activity and Co oxidation/spin state represents a breakthrough in the structure-activity relationship of Co-based catalysts for acidic OER, which interestingly does not hold in the alkaline and neutral environments. These findings not only help to design efficient acidic OER catalysts, but also deepen the understanding of the reaction mechanism.", 
    "version": 1, 
    "contributors": [
      {
        "email": "jinzhen.huang@psi.ch", 
        "affiliations": [
          "Electrochemistry Laboratory, Paul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland"
        ], 
        "familyname": "Huang", 
        "givennames": "Jinzhen"
      }, 
      {
        "email": "camelia.borca@psi.ch", 
        "affiliations": [
          "Photon Science Division, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland"
        ], 
        "familyname": "Borca", 
        "givennames": "Camelia Nicoleta"
      }, 
      {
        "email": "thomas.huthwelker@psi.ch", 
        "affiliations": [
          "Photon Science Division, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland"
        ], 
        "familyname": "Huthwelker", 
        "givennames": "Thomas"
      }, 
      {
        "email": "Sena.Yuezbasi@empa.ch", 
        "affiliations": [
          "Laboratory for High Performance Ceramics, Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, CH-8600 D\u00fcbendorf, Switzerland"
        ], 
        "familyname": "Y\u00fczbasi", 
        "givennames": "Nur Sena"
      }, 
      {
        "email": "thomasjustus.schmidt@psi.ch", 
        "affiliations": [
          "Electrochemistry Laboratory, Paul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland", 
          "Institute for Physical Molecular Sciences, ETH Z\u00fcrich, CH-8093 Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland"
        ], 
        "familyname": "Schmidt", 
        "givennames": "Thomas J."
      }, 
      {
        "email": "emiliana.fabbri@psi.ch", 
        "affiliations": [
          "Electrochemistry Laboratory, Paul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland"
        ], 
        "familyname": "Fabbri", 
        "givennames": "Emiliana"
      }
    ], 
    "edited_by": 576
  }, 
  "updated": "2023-10-17T09:18:43.396555+00:00"
}