Publication result detail

The Structure of the Cobalt Oxide/Au Catalyst Interface in Electrochemical Water Splitting

FESTER, J.; MAKOVEEV, A.; GRUMELLI, D.; GUTZLER, R.; SUN, Z.; RODRÍGUEZ-FERNÁNDEZ, J.; KERN, K.; LAURITSEN, J.

Original Title

The Structure of the Cobalt Oxide/Au Catalyst Interface in Electrochemical Water Splitting

English Title

The Structure of the Cobalt Oxide/Au Catalyst Interface in Electrochemical Water Splitting

Type

WoS Article

Original Abstract

The catalytic synergy between cobalt oxide and gold leads to strong promotion of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER)—one half-reaction of electrochemical water splitting. However, the mechanism behind the enhancement effect is still not understood, in part due to a missing structural model of the active interface. Using a novel interplay of cyclic voltammetry (CV) for electrochemistry integrated with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) on an atomically defined cobalt oxide/Au(111) system, we reveal here that the supporting gold substrate uniquely favors a flexible cobalt-oxyhydroxide/Au interface in the electrochemically active potential window and thus suppresses the formation of less active bulk cobalt oxide morphologies. The findings substantiate why optimum catalytic synergy is obtained for oxide coverages on gold close to or below one monolayer, and provide the first morphological description of the active phase during electrocatalysis.

English abstract

The catalytic synergy between cobalt oxide and gold leads to strong promotion of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER)—one half-reaction of electrochemical water splitting. However, the mechanism behind the enhancement effect is still not understood, in part due to a missing structural model of the active interface. Using a novel interplay of cyclic voltammetry (CV) for electrochemistry integrated with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) on an atomically defined cobalt oxide/Au(111) system, we reveal here that the supporting gold substrate uniquely favors a flexible cobalt-oxyhydroxide/Au interface in the electrochemically active potential window and thus suppresses the formation of less active bulk cobalt oxide morphologies. The findings substantiate why optimum catalytic synergy is obtained for oxide coverages on gold close to or below one monolayer, and provide the first morphological description of the active phase during electrocatalysis.

Keywords

electrocatalysis · metal oxides · oxygen evolution reactions · scanning tunneling microscopy

Key words in English

electrocatalysis · metal oxides · oxygen evolution reactions · scanning tunneling microscopy

Authors

FESTER, J.; MAKOVEEV, A.; GRUMELLI, D.; GUTZLER, R.; SUN, Z.; RODRÍGUEZ-FERNÁNDEZ, J.; KERN, K.; LAURITSEN, J.

RIV year

2019

Released

10.09.2018

ISBN

1433-7851

Periodical

Angewandte Chemie International Edition

Volume

57

Number

37

State

Federal Republic of Germany

Pages from

11893

Pages to

11897

Pages count

5

BibTex

@article{BUT149843,
  author="Jakob {Fester} and Anton Olegovich {Makoveev} and Doris {Grumelli} and Rico {Gutzler} and Zhaozong {Sun} and Jonathan {Rodríguez-Fernández} and Klaus {Kern} and Jeppe V. {Lauritsen}",
  title="The Structure of the Cobalt Oxide/Au Catalyst Interface in
Electrochemical Water Splitting",
  journal="Angewandte Chemie International Edition",
  year="2018",
  volume="57",
  number="37",
  pages="11893--11897",
  doi="10.1002/anie.201804417",
  issn="1433-7851"
}