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Understanding the Role of Gold Nanoparticles in Enhancing the Catalytic Activity of Manganese Oxides in Water Oxidation Reactions
Author(s) -
Kuo ChungHao,
Li Weikun,
Pahalagedara Lakshitha,
ElSawy Abdelhamid M.,
Kriz David,
Genz Nina,
Guild Curtis,
Ressler Thorsten,
Suib Steven L.,
He Jie
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201407783
Subject(s) - catalysis , manganese , valence (chemistry) , nanoparticle , redox , electrochemistry , colloidal gold , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , materials science , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , electrode , organic chemistry , engineering
The Earth‐abundant and inexpensive manganese oxides (MnO x ) have emerged as an intriguing type of catalysts for the water oxidation reaction. However, the overall turnover frequencies of MnO x catalysts are still much lower than that of nanostructured IrO 2 and RuO 2 catalysts. Herein, we demonstrate that doping MnO x polymorphs with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) can result in a strong enhancement of catalytic activity for the water oxidation reaction. It is observed that, for the first time, the catalytic activity of MnO x /AuNPs catalysts correlates strongly with the initial valence of the Mn centers. By promoting the formation of Mn 3+ species, a small amount of AuNPs (<5 %) in α‐MnO 2 /AuNP catalysts significantly improved the catalytic activity up to 8.2 times in the photochemical and 6 times in the electrochemical system, compared with the activity of pure α‐MnO 2 .