Abstract
A novel, rational, and efficient way to explore high-performance electrocatalysts was developed by controlling the reaction kinetics of the rate-determining step (RDS). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate that the RDS for the oxygen evolution reaction driven by transition metal hydroxides/oxides, i.e., surface adsorption of OH−/OOH• species, can be significantly promoted by increasing the electrophilicity of electrocatalysts via hybridization with electron-withdrawing inorganic nanosheets. As predicted by DFT calculation, the hybridization of Ni–Fe-layered double hydroxide (LDH)/Ni–Co-LDH, with RuO2 nanosheets (1.0 wt%) leads to significant lowering of the overpotentials to 207/276 mV at 10 mA cm−2, i.e., one of the smallest overpotentials for LDH-based materials, with the increase in the current density. The necessity of a very small amount of RuO2 nanosheets (1.0 wt%) to optimize the electrocatalyst activity highlights the remarkably high efficiency of the RuO2 addition. The present study underscores the importance of kinetic control of the RDS via hybridization with electron-withdrawing species for exploring novel efficient electrocatalysts.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 659-669 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | NPG Asia Materials |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Jul 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (No. NRF- 2017R1A2A1A17069463) and by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. NRF-2017R1A5A1015365). The experiments at PAL were supported in part by MOST and POSTECH.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, The Author(s).