A Glass-Ceramic with Accelerated Surface Reconstruction toward the Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Catalysis

Background:

• Developing efficient non-precious metal catalysts is crucial for electrochemical water splitting.
• The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a key bottleneck in water splitting processes.
• Novel nanostructured materials are needed to improve OER catalyst performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize a novel glass-ceramic material for OER.
• To investigate the synergistic effects of crystalline-amorphous nanostructures on OER activity.
• To explore the potential of this material as an efficient, non-precious metal electrocatalyst.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of a novel glass-ceramic: Ni_1.5 Sn@triMPO₄, embedding crystalline Ni_1.5 Sn nanoparticles into an amorphous trimetallic phosphate matrix.
• Characterization of the crystalline-amorphous nanostructure and its surface reconstruction properties.
• Electrochemical evaluation of the catalyst's performance in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER).

Main Results:

• The unique crystalline-amorphous nanostructure facilitates surface reconstruction to active Ni(Fe)OOH.
• The glass-ceramic catalyst exhibits significantly lowered overpotential and boosted OER kinetics compared to controls.
• Performance rivals state-of-the-art electrocatalysts, demonstrating high efficiency.

Conclusions:

• The Ni_1.5 Sn@triMPO₄ glass-ceramic demonstrates superior OER activity due to synergistic effects.
• Low vacancy formation energy of Sn and high adsorption energy of PO₄ ^3- contribute to enhanced catalytic performance.
• This material represents a promising non-precious metal catalyst for efficient electrochemical water splitting.