Exceptional electrocatalytic oxygen evolution via tunable charge transfer interactions in La_0.5Sr_1.5Ni_1-xFe_xO_4±δ...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Catalysis

Background:

• Efficient water electrolysis is crucial for renewable energy storage.
• Developing advanced oxygen evolution catalysts requires understanding structure-activity relationships.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and synthesize novel Ruddlesden-Popper oxides for enhanced electrocatalytic water splitting.
• To investigate the impact of selective elemental substitution on catalytic activity.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of La0.5Sr1.5Ni1-xFexO4±δ Ruddlesden-Popper oxides.
• Electrochemical characterization to assess oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity.
• Analysis of electronic structure and charge transfer mechanisms.

Main Results:

• Achieved high catalytic activity of 10 mA cm⁻² at 360 mV overpotential.
• Demonstrated a mass activity of 1930 mA mg⁻¹ox at 1.63 V.
• Identified a mechanism utilizing lattice oxygen facilitated by cross-gap hybridization.

Conclusions:

• Ruddlesden-Popper materials can serve as effective oxygen evolution catalysts.
• Rational design of electronic and structural configurations is key to optimizing catalyst performance.
• This approach enables catalytic properties not achievable in other crystalline metal oxides.