Molecular Insight in Structure and Activity of Highly Efficient, Low-Ir Ir–Ni Oxide Catalysts for Electrochemical Water Splitting (OER)

Mixed bimetallic oxides offer great opportunities for a systematic tuning of electrocatalytic activity and stability. Here, we demonstrate the power of this strategy using well-defined thermally prepared Ir-Ni mixed oxide thin film catalysts for the electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER) under highly corrosive conditions such as in acidic proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers and photoelectrochemical cells (PEC). Variation of the Ir to Ni ratio resulted in a volcano type OER activity curve with an unprecedented 20-fold improvement in Ir mass-based activity over pure Ir oxide. In situ spectroscopic probing of metal dissolution indicated that, against common views, activity and stability are not…

• DF
  Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
• BF
  Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung