IrO₂–ZnO Hybrid Nanoparticles as Highly Efficient Trifunctional Electrocatalysts

Abstract

Development of high-performance catalysts is very crucial for the commercialization of sustainable energy conversion technologies. Searching for stable, highly active, and low-cost multifunctional catalysts has become a critical issue. In this study, we report the synthesis of IrO 2 −ZnO hybrid nanoparticles and their highly efficient electrocatalytic activities toward oxygen/hydrogen evolution reaction (OER/HER) as well as oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). For comparison, we synthesized RuO 2 −ZnO, showing a smaller catalytic activity than IrO 2 −ZnO, which provides robust evidence for the unique synergic effect of these hybrid structures. IrO 2 −ZnO and RuO 2 −ZnO exhibit excellent OER catalytic performance with Tafel slopes of 57 and 59 mV decade −1 , respectively. For HER, IrO 2 −ZnO shows a higher catalytic activity than RuO 2 −ZnO. The numbers of electrons involved in the ORR were 3.7 and 2.8, respectively, for IrO 2 −ZnO and RuO 2 −ZnO. The remarkable catalytic performance of IrO 2 −ZnO would be ascribed to the abundant oxygen vacancies and the metallic states of Ir, which ensure excellent catalytic activity and stability.

A Microribbon Hybrid Structure of CoOx‐MoC Encapsulated in N‐Doped Carbon Nanowire Derived from MOF as Efficient Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalysts

“…Over the past decade, RuO 2 and IrO 2 have been proven to be highly active electrocatalysts in enhancing the OER kinetics and decreasing the overpotential . However, the scarcity and high cost of these materials seriously hinder their practical applications on a large scale.…”

Study on the Electronic Structure and Enhanced Photoelectrocatalytic Performance of RuxZn1-xO/Ti Electrodes

“…According to the results shown in [38][39][40]. As shown in Table 3, compared with the electrodes with 9.375mol% Ru, the Ru3d characteristic peak of those containing 12.5mol% Ru red-shifted by 0.12 eV, as the RuO2 content decreased and the RuOx/Ru content increased [41]. The high-resolution narrow scan spectra of Zn2p in Fig.…”

Electronic structure and enhanced photoelectrocatalytic performance of RuxZn1−xO/Ti electrodes

“…The peak at 282.05 eV indicated the existence of RuO x /Ru anoxic ruthenium, and the peak of C 1s appeared at 284.8 eV [47][48][49]. As shown in Table 3, compared with the electrodes with 9.375 mol% Ru, the Ru 3d characteristic peak of those containing 12.5 mol% Ru had a red-shift by 0.12 eV, as the RuO 2 content decreased and the RuO x /Ru content increased [50]. The high-resolution narrow scan spectra of Zn 2p in Fig.…”