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Electrifying model catalysts for understanding electrocatalytic reactions in liquid electrolytes

Nature Materials volume 17, pages 592–598 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Electrocatalysis is at the heart of our future transition to a renewable energy system. Most energy storage and conversion technologies for renewables rely on electrocatalytic processes and, with increasing availability of cheap electrical energy from renewables, chemical production will witness electrification in the near future1,2,3. However, our fundamental understanding of electrocatalysis lags behind the field of classical heterogeneous catalysis that has been the dominating chemical technology for a long time. Here, we describe a new strategy to advance fundamental studies on electrocatalytic materials. We propose to ‘electrify’ complex oxide-based model catalysts made by surface science methods to explore electrocatalytic reactions in liquid electrolytes. We demonstrate the feasibility of this concept by transferring an atomically defined platinum/cobalt oxide model catalyst into the electrochemical environment while preserving its atomic surface structure. Using this approach, we explore particle size effects and identify hitherto unknown metal–support interactions that stabilize oxidized platinum at the nanoparticle interface. The metal–support interactions open a new synergistic reaction pathway that involves both metallic and oxidized platinum. Our results illustrate the potential of the concept, which makes available a systematic approach to build atomically defined model electrodes for fundamental electrocatalytic studies.

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Fig. 1: Electrifying the Pt/Co3O4(111) model catalyst prepared in UHV by in situ transfer into the electrochemical environment.
Fig. 2: Particle size effects observed on the electrified model catalyst.
Fig. 3: Electronic metal–support interactions observed on the electrified model catalyst.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) within the Cluster of Excellence ‘Engineering of Advanced Materials’ (project EXC 315) (Bridge Funding) and further projects. Additional support by the DFG is acknowledged within the Research Unit FOR 1878 ‘Functional Molecular Structures on Complex Oxide Surfaces’. Furthermore, the authors acknowledge the CERIC-ERIC Consortium for the access to experimental facilities and financial support. N.T., T.S., B.Š. and V.M. acknowledge the infrastructure project no. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_013/0001788 and LM2015057 for the support of the SPL−MSB facility.

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  1. Klára Beranová

    Present address: Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lehrstuhl für Physikalische Chemie II, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Firas Faisal, Corinna Stumm, Manon Bertram, Fabian Waidhas, Yaroslava Lykhach, Armin Neitzel, Tobias Wähler, Ralf Schuster, Olaf Brummel & Jörg Libuda

  2. Department of Interface Chemistry and Surface Engineering, Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Serhiy Cherevko, Simon Geiger, Olga Kasian & Karl J. J. Mayrhofer

  3. Helmholtz-Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (IEK-11), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Erlangen, Germany

    Serhiy Cherevko & Karl J. J. Mayrhofer

  4. Lehrstuhl für Festkörperphysik, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Feifei Xiang, Maximilian Ammon & M. Alexander Schneider

  5. Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Department of Surface and Plasma Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

    Mykhailo Vorokhta, Břetislav Šmíd, Tomáš Skála, Nataliya Tsud & Vladimír Matolín

  6. Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste SCpA, Basovizza-Trieste, Italy

    Klára Beranová & Kevin C. Prince

  7. Erlangen Catalysis Resource Center, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Jörg Libuda

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Contributions

F.F., C.S., M.B. and F.W. prepared the samples, performed the EC-IRRAS and CV measurements and analysed the data. M.B., S.C., S.G. and O.K. performed SFC experiments and analysed the data. Y.L., M.V., B.Š., T.S., N.T., A.N., K.B., K.C.P. and O.B. performed the SR-XPS experiments and the combined electrochemical and XPS experiments and analysed the data. M.B., T.W. and R.S. performed the UHV IRRAS experiments. F.X., F.F., M.A., C.S. and M.A.S. performed the STM experiments and analysed the data. V.M., K.J.J.M., O.B. and J.L. supervised the experimental work and analysed the data. J.L., Y.L. and O.B. prepared the manuscript with the support of the other co-authors.

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Correspondence to Olaf Brummel or Jörg Libuda.

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Supplementary Information, Supplementary Figures 1–8, Supplementary References 1–10

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Faisal, F., Stumm, C., Bertram, M. et al. Electrifying model catalysts for understanding electrocatalytic reactions in liquid electrolytes. Nature Mater 17, 592–598 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0088-3

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