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Metallic Inverse Opal Frameworks as Catalyst Supports for High‐Performance Water Electrooxidation
Author(s) -
Nguyen Tam D.,
Hoogeveen Dijon A.,
Cherepanov Pavel V.,
Dinh Khang N.,
Zeil Daniel,
Varga Joseph F.,
MacFarlane Douglas R.,
Simonov Alexandr N.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.202200858
Subject(s) - tafel equation , overpotential , catalysis , oxygen evolution , materials science , chemical engineering , nickel , substrate (aquarium) , metal , conductivity , water splitting , inorganic chemistry , electrode , chemistry , electrochemistry , metallurgy , organic chemistry , photocatalysis , engineering , oceanography , geology
Abstract High intrinsic activity of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts is often limited by their low electrical conductivity. To address this, we introduce copper inverse opal (IO) frameworks offering a well‐developed network of interconnected pores as highly conductive high‐surface‐area supports for thin catalytic coatings, for example, the extremely active but poorly conducting nickel‐iron layered double hydroxides (NiFe LDH). Such composites exhibit significantly higher OER activity in 1 m KOH than NiFe LDH supported on a flat substrate or deposited as inverse opals. The NiFe LDH/Cu IO catalyst enables oxygen evolution rates of 100 mA cm −2 (727±4 A g catalyst −1 ) at an overpotential of 0.305±0.003 V with a Tafel slope of 0.044±0.002 V dec −1 . This high performance is achieved with 2.2±0.4 μm catalyst layers, suggesting compatibility of the inverse‐opal‐supported catalysts with membrane electrolyzers, in contrast to similarly performing 10 3 ‐fold thicker electrodes based on foams and other substrates.