Jieyu Liu

Single-Atom Au/NiFe Layered Double Hydroxide Electrocatalyst: Probing the Origin of Activity for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

A fundamental understanding of the origin of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity of transition-metal-based electrocatalysts, especially for single precious metal atoms supported on layered double hydroxides (LDHs), is highly required for the design of efficient electrocatalysts toward further energy conversion technologies. Here, we aim toward single-atom Au supported on NiFe LDH (sAu/NiFe LDH) to clarify the activity origin of LDHs system and a 6-fold OER activity enhancement by 0.4 wt % sAu decoration. Combining with theoretical calculations, the active behavior of NiFe LDH results from the in situ generated NiFe oxyhydroxide from LDH during the OER process. With the presence of sAu, sAu/NiFe LDH possesses an overpotential of 0.21 V in contrast to the calculated result (0.18 V). We ascribe the excellent OER activity of sAu/NiFe LDH to the charge redistribution of active Fe as well as its surrounding atoms causing by the neighboring sAu on NiFe oxyhydroxide stabilized by interfacial CO32- and H2O interfacing with LDH.

Modest Oxygen-Defective Amorphous Manganese-Based Nanoparticle Mullite with Superior Overall Electrocatalytic Performance for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Manganese-based oxides have exhibited high promise as noncoinage alternatives to Pt/C for catalyzing oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in basic solution and a mix of Mn3+/4+ valence is believed to be vital in achieving optimum ORR performance. Here, it is proposed that, distinct from the most studied perovskites and spinels, Mn-based mullites with equivalent molar ratio of Mn3+ and Mn4+ provide a unique platform to maximize the role of Mn valence in facile ORR kinetics by introducing modest content of oxygen deficiency, which is also beneficial to enhanced catalytic activity. Accordingly, amorphous mullite SmMn2 O5-δ nanoparticles with finely tuned concentration of oxygen vacancies are synthesized via a versatile top-down approach and the modest oxygen-defective sample with an Mn3+ /Mn4+ ratio of 1.78, i.e., Mn valence of 3.36 gives rise to a superior overall ORR activity among the highest reported for the family of Mn-based oxides, comparable to that of Pt/C. Altogether, this study opens up great opportunities for mullite-based catalysts to be a cost-effective alternative to Pt/C in diverse electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems.

Identifying the Key Role of Pyridinic‐N–Co Bonding in Synergistic Electrocatalysis for Reversible ORR/OER

For many regenerative electrochemical energy-conversion systems, hybrid electrocatalysts comprising transition metal (TM) oxides and heteroatom-doped (e.g., nitrogen-doped) carbonaceous materials are promising bifunctional oxygen reduction reaction/oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalysts, whose enhanced electrocatalytic activities are attributed to the synergistic effect originated from the TM-N-C active sites. However, it is still ambiguous which configuration of nitrogen dopants, either pyridinic or pyrrolic N, when bonded to the TM in oxides, predominately contributes to the synergistic effect. Herein, an innovative strategy based on laser irradiation is described to controllably tune the relative concentrations of pyridinic and pyrrolic nitrogen dopants in the hybrid catalyst, i.e., NiCo2 O4 NPs/N-doped mesoporous graphene. Comparative studies reveal the dominant role of pyridinic-NCo bonding, instead of pyrrolic-N bonding, in synergistically promoting reversible oxygen electrocatalysis. Moreover, density functional theory calculations provide deep insights into the corresponding synergistic mechanism. The optimized hybrid, NiCo/NLG-270, manifests outstanding reversible oxygen electrocatalytic activities, leading to an overpotential different ΔE among the lowest value for highly efficient bifunctional catalysts. In a practical reversible Zn-air battery, NiCo/NLG-270 exhibits superior charge/discharge performance and long-term durability compared to the noble metal electrocatalysts.

Identifying the descriptor governing NO oxidation on mullite Sm(Y, Tb, Gd, Lu)Mn2O5 for diesel exhaust cleaning

The current fast selective catalytic reduction (fast-SCR) technology shows effectiveness in converting diesel engine generated nitrogen oxides (NOx) to environmentally benign nitrogen (N2) with the aid of the precious metal catalyst platinum. Driven by the previous finding of the low-cost mullites great superiority over Pt in terms of NO oxidation, a series of Mn-based oxides Sm(Y, Tb, Gd, Lu)Mn2O5 are synthesized to identify a general descriptor that governs the catalytic performance. Utilizing soft X-ray absorption characterization and molecular orbital theory, here, we show that the catalytic activity difference presents little dependence on the 3d electron occupancy when the A site element is varied (Sm, Tb, Y, Gd, Lu). Instead, strong p–d hybridization between lattice O and octahedral Mn leads to weak bonding strength between external O* and pyramid Mn and essentially increases the catalytic activity for converting NO to NO2.

Investigation of high oxygen reduction reaction catalytic performance on Mn-based mullite SmMn2O5

An alternative material SmMn2O5 mullite with regard to Pt/C is proposed to catalyze the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) by combining density functional theory (DFT) calculations and experimental validations. Theoretical calculations are performed to investigate the bulk phase diagram, as well as the stability and electrocatalytic activity of the ORR under alkaline conditions for SmMn2O5 (001) surfaces, which are passivated by nitrogen atoms to avoid any spurious interference. The adsorptions of relevant ORR species (O*, OH*, OOH* and OO*) tend to compensate the coordination of manganese atoms to form Mn-centered octahedral or pyramidal crystal fields, and the corresponding binding energies fulfill a linear relationship. An oxygen molecule prefers to be reduced to OH−via a four-electron pathway and this prediction is verified by electrochemical measurements on the as-prepared SmMn2O5 catalyst with a nanorod structure. Volcano curves are obtained to describe the trends in theoretical ORR activity as a function of a single parameter, i.e. the oxygen binding energy. An overpotential of 0.43 V is obtained at the O* binding energy around 3.4 eV, which is close to the experimental observation (0.413 V) in this work. SmMn2O5 mullite exhibits favorable ORR activity and superior stability with only ∼5% decay in activity over 20 000 s of chronoamperometric operation in contrast to ∼15% decrease of Pt/C, making it a promising candidate for a cathode catalyst.

Electronic properties and native point defects of high efficient NO oxidation catalysts SmMn2O5

Mn-based oxide SmMn2O5 exhibits great catalytic performance in NO oxidation [Wang et al., Science 337, 832 (2012)]. Nevertheless, the fundamental understanding of SmMn2O5 properties is so far not fully accessible. Here, the SmMn2O5 nanoparticles are synthesized through hydrothermal methods, and the pure phase of triclinic SmMn2O5 is characterized by high-resolution tunneling electron microscope and X-ray diffraction. Furthermore, the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, absorption, photoluminescence spectra (PL), and density functional theory based first-principles calculations are employed to explore the fundamental electronic structures of pristine and defective SmMn2O5. Combined with band structure calculations, light absorption, and PL spectra, we first show that SmMn2O5 presents an insulating behavior with an indirect band gap of ∼1.0 eV. Between the two types of crystal fields, i.e., octahedral and tetrahedral, the later one contributes to the dz2 of the valence band edge, resulting in superior catalyt...

Origin of OER catalytic activity difference of oxygen-deficient perovskites A2Mn2O5 (A = Ca, Sr): A theoretical study

Mn-based oxygen-deficient perovskite catalysts A2Mn2O5 (A = Ca, Sr) have been experimentally proved high oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activities for replacing Pt in oxygen electrocatalysis. Nevertheless, the correlation between the fundamental electronic structure at room temperature and the corresponding electrocatalysis is not fully accessible. In this paper, we combine the ground state density functional theory (DFT) method and dynamic mean-field theory (DFT+DMFT) at room temperature to investigate the origin of the OER difference for electrocatalysts A2Mn2O5 (A = Ca, Sr). We find that at room temperature the highest occupied Mn dz2 orbital in the square pyramidal crystal field of oxygen-deficient perovskites A2Mn2O5 with insulating properties can provide a moderate bonding strength with intermediate hydroxyl OH*, leading to a high OER catalytic activity. According to the electronic structure analysis, we observe that replacing the A-site element Ca by Sr with the larger ionic radii would result in a higher OER activity due to the weakened hybridization between the Mn dz2 orbital and the O pσ orbital of OH*. This insight could provide hints for the screening metal oxide electrocatalysts in the applications of the energy storage and conversion.