Engineering surface atomic structure of single-crystal cobalt (II) oxide nanorods for superior electrocatalysis

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 12876 - 8
• Main Authors: Ling, Tao, Yan, Dong-Yang, Jiao, Yan, Wang, Hui, Zheng, Yao, Zheng, Xueli, Mao, Jing, Du, Xi-Wen, Hu, Zhenpeng, Jaroniec, Mietek, Qiao, Shi-Zhang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 21.09.2016; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 119/118; 639/301/299/886; 639/638/77/886; Aerospace materials; Cobalt; Electrocatalysis; Electrochemistry; Electrons; Engineering; Fabrication; Humanities and Social Sciences; Materials science; Microscopy; multidisciplinary; Oxygen; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Zinc oxides; China
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12876

Engineering the surface structure at the atomic level can be used to precisely and effectively manipulate the reactivity and durability of catalysts. Here we report tuning of the atomic structure of one-dimensional single-crystal cobalt (II) oxide (CoO) nanorods by creating oxygen vacancies on pyramidal nanofacets. These CoO nanorods exhibit superior catalytic activity and durability towards oxygen reduction/evolution reactions. The combined experimental studies, microscopic and spectroscopic characterization, and density functional theory calculations reveal that the origins of the electrochemical activity of single-crystal CoO nanorods are in the oxygen vacancies that can be readily created on the oxygen-terminated {111} nanofacets, which favourably affect the electronic structure of CoO, assuring a rapid charge transfer and optimal adsorption energies for intermediates of oxygen reduction/evolution reactions. These results show that the surface atomic structure engineering is important for the fabrication of efficient and durable electrocatalysts. Surface structure manipulation can manipulate the activity and durability of catalysts. Here, the authors report a series of one-dimensional single crystal cobalt oxide nanorods, and show that surface oxygen vacancy formation modifies electronic and adsorption properties leading to enhanced electrocatalysis.