A General Method to Probe Oxygen Evolution Intermediates at Operating Conditions

Abstract

To develop new OER catalysts to improve efficiency for renewable energy storage, observing oxygen intermediates is essential yet challenging. Herein, based on the electronic structure and chemical property of oxygen intermediates, we design a chemical method to probe oxygen intermediates at operating conditions of OER. Alcohols are demonstrated to be excellent probing molecules to detect oxygen intermediates over various types of catalysts at different reaction media. The general and feasible method could be widely used in every electrochemical laboratory.

Investigation of mixed-metal (oxy)fluorides as a new class of water oxidation electrocatalysts

“…As *OH is a very electrophilic intermediate, it will react with methanol, and thus give rise to methanol oxidation currents when present in substantial quantities. 54 Upon the addition of 10 mM methanol, we noted enhanced currents beginning at 1.0 V vs. RHE for all examples except for NiFe 2 -F 8 (H 2 O) 2 (Fig. S7 †).…”

Electrochemical biomass valorization on gold-metal oxide nanoscale heterojunctions enables investigation of both catalyst and reaction dynamics with operando surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

“…Recent investigations pointed to varying levels of oxygenic intermediates being present on Co, Ni, and Fe surfaces. 37 In particular, the high reactivity of adsorbed *OH with methanol led to enhanced catalytic currents when CH 3 OH was added to the electrolyte. This occurred as Ni(OH) 2 oxidized to NiOOH.…”

Iridium‐Chromium Oxide Nanowires as Highly Performed OER Catalysts in Acidic Media

“…To explore the adsorption of intermediates on the Cr‐incorporated IrO x nanowires in acidic electrolyte, methanol was used as the probe molecule to detect oxygen intermediates via their electrophilicity and determine the rate‐determining step (RDS) . Generally, the OER process in acidic media can be described by Equations (1) to : …”