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Rational Surface and Interfacial Engineering of IrO 2 /TiO 2 Nanosheet Arrays toward High‐Performance Chlorine Evolution Electrocatalysis and Practical Environmental Remediation
Author(s) -
Wang Yunting,
Xue Yudong,
Zhang Chunhui
Publication year - 2021
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.202006587
Subject(s) - nanosheet , overpotential , electrocatalyst , tafel equation , materials science , chemical engineering , electrolysis , surface engineering , electrochemistry , chlorine , environmental remediation , nanotechnology , electrode , chemistry , metallurgy , contamination , electrolyte , ecology , biology , engineering
The chlorine evolution reaction (CER) is a critical and commercially valuable electrochemical reaction in industrial‐scale utilization, including the Chlor‐alkali industry, seawater electrolysis, and saline wastewater treatment. Aiming at boosting CER electrocatalysis, hybrid IrO 2 /TiO 2 nanosheet arrays (NSAs) with rational surface and interfacial tuning strategies are proposed in this study. The IrO 2 /TiO 2 NSAs exhibit superb CER electrocatalytic activity with a low overpotential (44 mV) at 10 mA cm −2 , low Tafel slope of 40 mV dec −1 , high CER selectivity (95.8%), and long‐term durability, outperforming most of the existing counterparts. The boosting mechanism is proposed that the aerophobic/hydrophilic surface engineering and interfacial electronic structure tuning of IrO 2 /TiO 2 are beneficial for the Cl − mass‐transfer, Cl 2 release, and Volmer–Heyvrosky kinetics during the CER. Practical saline wastewater treatment by using the IrO 2 /TiO 2 NSAs electrode is further conducted, demonstrating it has a higher p‐nitrophenol degradation ratio (95.10% in 60 min) than that of other electrodes. The rational surface and interfacial engineering of IrO 2 /TiO 2 NSAs can open up a new way to design highly efficient electrocatalysts for industrial application and environmental remediation.