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Li-Hua Zhang, 1. Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China;2. Petrochemical Catalyst Lab., Lanzhou Petrochemical Research Center, Petrochemical Research Institute, PetroChina Company Limited, Lanzhou 730060, China;
Hong-Yuan Chuai, 1. Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China;Follow
Hai Liu, 1. Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China;
Qun Fan, 1. Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China;
Si-Yu Kuang, 1. Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China;
Sheng Zhang, 1. Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China;3. Zhejiang Institute of Tianjin University, Ningbo 315201, Zhejiang, China;Follow
Xin-Bin Ma, 1. Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China;3. Zhejiang Institute of Tianjin University, Ningbo 315201, Zhejiang, China;

Corresponding Author

Hong-Yuan Chuai(chuaihongyuan@tju.edu.cn);
Sheng Zhang(sheng.zhang@tju.edu.cn)

Abstract

Water splitting is a promising technology to produce clean hydrogen if powered by renewable energies, where oxygen evolution is the rate determining step at an anode. Here we adjust the different crystal planes of the cobalt oxides catalyst to expose more effective active sites through a hydrothermal process, so as to improve the reaction activity for oxygen evolution. The samples were well characterized by TEM, SEM and XRD. Among the three synthetic crystal planes (100), (111) and (110) of spinel cobalt oxides, the (100) crystal plane has the highest intrinsic activity. Combining in-situ infrared and DFT calculations, we observed that the oxygen evolution reaction reached the lowest energy barrier on the (100) plane of the cobalt oxide crystal. Further XPS analysis showed that the highest Co 3+/Co2+ ratio was observed on the surface of the nanocube samples, indicating that Co3+ is a more active site for oxygen evolution catalytic activity.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

water splitting, oxygen evolution, spinel cobalt oxide, facet dependent, nanocubes

Publication Date

2022-02-28

Online Available Date

2022-01-02

Revised Date

2021-11-30

Received Date

2021-10-25

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