Selectively Enhanced Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution within Nanoscopic Channels Fitting a Specific Reaction Intermediate for Seawater Splitting.

Abstract

Abundant availability of seawater grants economic and resource-rich benefits to water electrolysis technology requiring high-purity water if undesired reactions such as chlorine evolution reaction (CER) competitive to oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are suppressed. Inspired by a conceptual computational work suggestingthat OER is kinetically improved via a double activation within 7Å-gap nanochannels, RuO2 catalysts are realized to have nanoscopic channels at 7, 11, and 14Å gap in average (dgap ), and preferential activity improvement of OER over CER in seawater by using nanochanneled RuO2 is demonstrated. When the channels are developed to have 7Å gap, the OER current is maximized with the overpotential required for triggering OER minimized. The gap value guaranteeing the highest OER activity is identical to the value expected from the computational work. The improved OER activity significantly increases the selectivity of OER over CER in seawater since the double activation by the 7Å-nanoconfined environments to allow an OER intermediate (*OOH) to be doubly anchored to Ru and O active sites does not work on the CER intermediate (*Cl). Successful operation of direct seawater electrolysis with improved hydrogen production is demonstrated by employing the 7Å-nanochanneled RuO2 as the OER electrocatalyst.