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Light-switchable catalytic activity of Cu for oxygen reduction reaction

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Abstract

The surface reactivity of metals is fundamentally dependent on the local electronic structure generally tailored by atomic compositions and configurations during the synthesis. Herein, we demonstrate that Cu, which is inert for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) due to the fully occupied d-orbital, could be activated by applying a visible-light irradiation at ambient temperature. The ORR current is increased to 3.3 times higher in the potential range between −0.1 and 0.4 V under the light of 400 mW·cm−2, and the activity enhancement is proportional to the light intensity. Together with the help of the first-principle calculation, the remarkably enhanced electrocatalytic activity is expected to stem mainly from the decreased metal-adsorbate binding by photoexcitation. This finding provides an additional degree of freedom for controlling and manipulating the surface reactivity of metal catalysts besides materials strategy.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51771047) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (N180204014). We thank Miss Fan Yang for sample preparation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab for Anisotropy and Texture of Materials (MOE), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China

    Yue Zhang, Yihong Yu, Xiankai Fu, Yinglei Liu & Song Li

  2. Liaoning Academy of Analytical Sciences, Shenyang, 110015, China

    Zhisen Liu

  3. Research Center for Metallic Wires, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China

    Song Li

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  1. Yue Zhang
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  2. Yihong Yu
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  3. Xiankai Fu
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  4. Zhisen Liu
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  5. Yinglei Liu
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  6. Song Li
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Correspondence to Song Li.

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Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Zhang, Y., Yu, Y., Fu, X. et al. Light-switchable catalytic activity of Cu for oxygen reduction reaction. Front. Mater. Sci. 14, 481–487 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-020-0521-9

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