Metal oxides of earth-abundant elements (such as Ca and
Fe) are
highly important for fabricating active electrodes for various electrochemical
applications (such as electrocatalysis and photo-electrocatalysis).
Here, we employed a molten-salt-assisted self-assembly process to
fabricate CaFe2O4 thin-film electrodes on graphite
rods. The roles of precursor type (nitrates and chlorides) and solvent
(water and ethanol) have been addressed in the fabrication of the
electrodes that are tested in oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkali
media. The mesophases have an unusual orthorhombic structure that
is likely transformed from a well-known 3D hexagonal phase by an elongation
along the b-axis caused by the hydrolysis and condensation
of the Fe(III) species in the lyotropic liquid crystalline media.
Four sets of mesoporous electrodes with a high surface area are fabricated
using nitrate and chloride precursors in aqueous media and nitrates
in ethanol. The electrodes, fabricated from the chloride precursors,
are not as porous as nitrates, but they display better performance
in the OER. The electrodes, fabricated from ethanol solutions, outperform,
are more robust, and display as low as 250, 342, and 642 mV overpotentials
at 1, 10, and 100 mA/cm2 current densities with a Tafel
slope of around 60 mV/dec. The electrode thickness has no role in
the electrode performance and can be prepared as thin as tens of nanometers
with good stability and OER performance.