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Characterisation of bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction and evolution by means of SECM

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Abstract

Electrocatalysts that can reversibly reduce oxygen and oxidise water are of prime importance for the advancement of new emerging electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems. We present in this work the application of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) for characterisation of bifunctional catalysts. By using model bifunctional catalysts based on oxides of cobalt (CoxOy) and nickel (NixOy) embedded in nitrogen-doped carbon (NC), we specifically show the unique ability of using SECM to determine a range of the important electrocatalytic parameters including the selectivity of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), the initial mechanistic steps during the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and the onset potential for both ORR and OER in a single experiment. We were able to observe directly that prior to oxygen evolution, local depletion of oxygen occurs at the SECM tip during redox transition accompanying most likely metal oxyhydroxide formation thus enabling direct in situ observation of the initial mechanistic steps of the OER.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support from the DFG in the framework of the Cluster of Excellence RESOLV (EXC1069), the Helmholtz-Energie-Allianz “Stationäre elektrochemische Speicher und Wandler” (HA-E-0002) and the BMBF “Sustainable Hydrogen (SusHy)” (03X3581D) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Analytical Chemistry - Center for Electrochemical Sciences (CES), Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, 44780, Bochum, Germany

    Xingxing Chen, Alexander J. R. Botz, Justus Masa & Wolfgang Schuhmann

  2. School of Chemical Engineering, University of Science and Technology Liaoning, Qianshan Road 185, 114051, Anshan, China

    Xingxing Chen

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  1. Xingxing Chen
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  2. Alexander J. R. Botz
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  3. Justus Masa
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  4. Wolfgang Schuhmann
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Correspondence to Justus Masa or Wolfgang Schuhmann.

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Chen, X., Botz, A.J.R., Masa, J. et al. Characterisation of bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction and evolution by means of SECM. J Solid State Electrochem 20, 1019–1027 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-015-3028-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-015-3028-z

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