FeS2/C Nanowires as an Effective Catalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction by Electrolytic Water Splitting.

Kefeng Pan,Kai Yu,Yingying Zhai,Jiawei Zhang

doi:10.3390/ma12203364

Abstract

Electrolytic water splitting with evolution of both hydrogen (HER) and oxygen (OER) is an attractive way to produce clean energy hydrogen. It is critical to explore effective, but low-cost electrocatalysts for the evolution of oxygen (OER) owing to its sluggish kinetics for practical applications. Fe-based catalysts have advantages over Ni- and Co-based materials because of low costs, abundance of raw materials, and environmental issues. However, their inefficiency as OER catalysts has caused them to receive little attention. Herein, the FeS2/C catalyst with porous nanostructure was synthesized with rational design via the in situ electrochemical activation method, which serves as a good catalytic reaction in the OER process. The FeS2/C catalyst delivers overpotential values of only 291 mV and 338 mV current densities of 10 mA/cm2 and 50 mA/cm2, respectively, after electrochemical activation, and exhibits staying power for 15 h.

Highlights

With the exhaustion of traditional fossil fuels, various economy and ecology issues become serious and need to be resolved [1,2]
The electrochemical splitting of water, converting water into H2 and O2, has been considered as an environmentally friendly and cost-efficient alternative to traditional energy systems [4]. It still has an unavoidable energy loss owing to the high overpotential for the overall reaction of both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) [5]
Exploring efficient catalysts for the OER process is the key step for improving the overall reaction

Summary

Introduction

With the exhaustion of traditional fossil fuels, various economy and ecology issues become serious and need to be resolved [1,2]. The electrochemical splitting of water, converting water into H2 and O2 , has been considered as an environmentally friendly and cost-efficient alternative to traditional energy systems [4]. It still has an unavoidable energy loss owing to the high overpotential for the overall reaction of both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) [5]. Noble metal-based catalysts exhibit good OER activity, but cost and limited supplies limit the extent of their applications [8]. The decomposition of organic groups ensures that the porous structure and carbon conductivity layer encapsulation provide more active sites and higher electron transfer toward the OER process. Current densities of 10 mA/cm and 50 mA/cm gave overpotentials of only 291 mV and 338 mV, respectively, after the electrochemical activation

Materials Preparation

Materials Characterization

Electrochemical Determinations

Determination

Electrochemical

Conclusions