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Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation by a Highly Active and Robust α‐Mn 2 O 3 Thin Film Sintered on a Fluorine‐Doped Tin Oxide Electrode
Author(s) -
Zahran Zaki N.,
Mohamed Eman A.,
Ohta Takehiro,
Naruta Yoshinori
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemcatchem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1867-3899
pISSN - 1867-3880
DOI - 10.1002/cctc.201501073
Subject(s) - electrocatalyst , tin oxide , overpotential , nanocrystalline material , fluorine , catalysis , inorganic chemistry , tin , materials science , manganese , electrode , oxide , chemistry , electrochemistry , nanotechnology , metallurgy , organic chemistry
As a water oxidation catalyst, α‐Mn 2 O 3 has higher activity than other manganese oxides. However, the robustness of the catalyst supported on conducting electrodes has only been tested for a short time (1 h) and it shows a gradual decrease in activity. Furthermore, the turnover number (TON) and turnover frequency (TOF) have not been reported. Herein, we optimized the preparation of transparent nanocrystalline α‐Mn 2 O 3 on a fluorine‐doped tin oxide (FTO) electrode, and this resulting catalyst shows, in neutral aqueous 0.1 m potassium phosphate buffer solution, a high electrocatalytic water oxidation activity with a TON of 230, a TOF of 5.3×10 −3 s −1 based on the all‐Mn content, and a TOF of 2.1 s −1 based on the amount of surface‐active Mn with a Faradic efficiency of 96.7 % at an overpotential of 470 mV. The robustness of the α‐Mn 2 O 3 /FTO electrocatalyst was tested for a long time (80 h) without a decrease in activity.