The electrochemical conversion of water into hydrogen fuel is one of the most promising schemes for the large-scale storage of solar electricity. There is unfortunately a substantial overpotential (h) required to produce hydrogen at a meaningful rate due to slow oxygen evolution kinetics. Consequently, the development of efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts is vital to achieving a clean hydrogen economy. While most OER catalysts are based on crystalline oxides, higher activities can also be achieved with amorphous phases. There are, however, limited methods available for producing amorphous catalytic films. We filled this gap by recently demonstrating amorphous phases of metal oxide films can be accessed through a facile photochemical decomposition technique.1 This fabrication method enables the use of different combinations with precise compositional control. Pure iron, nickel and cobalt oxides were investigated, along with various compositions of the mixed metal oxides, and shown to display remarkably high efficiencies towards the OER reaction.1Smith, R. D. L.; Prevot, M. S.; Fagan, R. D.; Zhang, Z.; Sedach, P. A.; Siu, M. K. J.; Trudel, S.; Berlinguette C. P.  Science, 2013 , 340, 60-63.

Photochemical route for accessing amorphous mixed-metal oxides for electrocatalytic water oxidation

247th National Meeting (2014)

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