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Serpentine Ni 3 Ge 2 O 5 (OH) 4 Nanosheets with Tailored Layers and Size for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reactions
Author(s) -
Zhang Ning,
Yang Baopeng,
He Yuanqing,
He Yulu,
Liu Xiaohe,
Liu Min,
Song Guoyong,
Chen Gen,
Pan Anqiang,
Liang Shuquan,
Ma Renzhi,
Venkatesh Shishir,
Roy Vellaisamy A. L.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201803015
Subject(s) - oxygen evolution , materials science , adsorption , catalysis , oxygen , chemical engineering , diffusion , gibbs free energy , nanotechnology , chemistry , electrochemistry , thermodynamics , biochemistry , physics , organic chemistry , electrode , engineering
Layered serpentine Ni 3 Ge 2 O 5 (OH) 4 is compositionally active and structurally favorable for adsorption and diffusion of reactants in oxygen evolution reactions (OER). However, one of the major problems for these materials is limited active sites and low efficiency for OER. In this regard, a new catalyst consisting of layered serpentine Ni 3 Ge 2 O 5 (OH) 4 nanosheets is introduced via a controlled one‐step synthetic process where the morphology, size, and layers are well tailored. The theoretical calculations indicate that decreased layers and increased exposure of (100) facets in serpentine Ni 3 Ge 2 O 5 (OH) 4 lead to much lower Gibbs free energy in adsorption of reactive intermediates. Experimentally, it is found that the reduction in number of layers with minimized particle size exhibits plenty of highly surface‐active sites of (100) facets and demonstrates a much enhanced performance in OER than the corresponding multilayered nanosheets. Such a strategy of tailoring active sites of serpentine Ni 3 Ge 2 O 5 (OH) 4 nanosheets offers an effective method to design highly efficient electrocatalysts.