Understanding the Reaction Energetics of Oxygen-evolving Electrocatalysts

Electrocatalysts can produce valuable chemicals with electricity, but current electrocatalysts suffer from slow reaction kinetics. The chemical composition of electrocatalysts is known  to have a big impact on catalyst activity, but exactly why certain compositions lead to a better catalyst is not known. In this work, the Moreno-Hernandez laboratory developed electrochemical methods to determine thermodynamic and kinetic information about reaction intermediates involved in electrocatalysis. These methods were applied to a series of ruthenium-based catalysts that incorporated first-row transition metals, which enabled the determination of how each element changes the reaction pathway. With this information, the Moreno-Hernandez laboratory designed an FeMn-RuO_x electrocatalyst that had an 876% increase in activity compared to the current state-of-the-art for the oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalyst RuO₂. These findings provide fundamental insights that will accelerate the design of next-generation electrocatalysts. Read more about the lab's findings in a recent edition of Energy & Environmental Science, available here. .