Distance effect of single atoms on stability of cobalt oxide catalysts for acidic oxygen evolution

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 15; no. 1; p. 1767
• Main Authors: Zhang, Zhirong, Jia, Chuanyi, Ma, Peiyu, Feng, Chen, Yang, Jin, Huang, Junming, Zheng, Jiana, Zuo, Ming, Liu, Mingkai, Zhou, Shiming, Zeng, Jie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 26.02.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 119/118; 147/143; 639/301/299/886; 639/638/77/886; Acid resistance; Acidic oxides; Catalysts; Cobalt; Cobalt oxides; Crystal structure; Dissolution; Electrocatalysts; Humanities and Social Sciences; Membranes; multidisciplinary; Oxides; Oxygen evolution reactions; Protons; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Spinel; Stability tests
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46176-0

Developing efficient and economical electrocatalysts for acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is essential for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWE). Cobalt oxides are considered promising non-precious OER catalysts due to their high activities. However, the severe dissolution of Co atoms in acid media leads to the collapse of crystal structure, which impedes their application in PEMWE. Here, we report that introducing acid-resistant Ir single atoms into the lattice of spinel cobalt oxides can significantly suppress the Co dissolution and keep them highly stable during the acidic OER process. Combining theoretical and experimental studies, we reveal that the stabilizing effect induced by Ir heteroatoms exhibits a strong dependence on the distance of adjacent Ir single atoms, where the OER stability of cobalt oxides continuously improves with decreasing the distance. When the distance reduces to about 0.6 nm, the spinel cobalt oxides present no obvious degradation over a 60-h stability test for acidic OER, suggesting potential for practical applications. Dissolution of Co atoms in acidic media impedes the application of cobalt oxides in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers. Here, the authors reveal a stabilizing effect induced by Ir single atoms on cobalt oxides that suppress Co dissolution.