Advances in Catalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER): Synthesis, Mechanism, and Electrochemical Performance

The seminar will focus on recent advancements in enhancing the efficiency of the Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) in water electrocatalysis. Three innovative approaches will be discussed: Se-doped FeOOH electrocatalysts, which demonstrate that selenium doping significantly enhances the OER activity of FeOOH, achieving an industrial-level current output of 500 mA cm⁻² at a low overpotential of 348 mV, and showing a high solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 18.55%, making it a promising candidate for cost-effective and efficient hydrogen production; atomically dispersed nickel in porous carbon nanosheets, introducing a low-cost electrocatalyst composed of atomically dispersed nickel coordinated with nitrogen and sulfur species in porous carbon nanosheets, exhibiting excellent OER activity and durability with a low overpotential of 1.51 V at 10 mA cm⁻² and a small Tafel slope of 45 mV dec⁻¹, outperforming traditional Ir-based catalysts; and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) as a co-catalyst, exploring the use of one-atom-thick hexagonal boron nitride as a co-catalyst, which significantly improves OER efficiency by encapsulating various electrocatalytic electrodes with hBN films, resulting in an ultralow Tafel slope of ~30 mV dec⁻¹ and a reaction current of ~2000 mA cm⁻² at an overpotential of ~490 mV, sustained for over 150 hours, with the hBN co-catalyst’s mass activity surpassing commercial catalysts by up to five orders of magnitude. These studies collectively highlight the potential of novel materials and strategies to develop highly efficient and cost-effective OER electrocatalysts for sustainable hydrogen production.

1. Lu, Y.; Li, B.; Xu, N.; Zhou, Z.; Xiao, Y.; Jiang, Y.; Li, T.; Hu, S.; Gong, Y.; Cao, Y. One-Atom-Thick Hexagonal Boron Nitride Co-Catalyst for Enhanced Oxygen Evolution Reactions. Nature Communications 2023, 14 (1), 6965. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42696-3.
2. Hou, Y.; Qiu, M.; Kim, M. G.; Liu, P.; Nam, G.; Zhang, T.; Zhuang, X.; Yang, B.; Cho, J.; Chen, M.; Yuan, C.; Lei, L.; Feng, X. Atomically Dispersed Nickel–Nitrogen–Sulfur Species Anchored on Porous Carbon Nanosheets for Efficient Water Oxidation. Nature Communications 2019, 10 (1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09394-5.
3. ‌ (Niu, S.; Jiang, W.-J.; Wei, W.; Tang, T. K.; Ma, J.; Wan, L.-J. Se-Doping Activates FeOOH for Cost-Effective and Efficient Electrochemical Water Oxidation. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2019, 141 (17), 7005–7013. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b01214.