Application of Co3O4 as anode catalyst in CO2 electrolyzer cells
Source abstract
Abstract
Abstract Replacing Ir with anode catalyst materials that are more abundant is a long-sought objective within the CO 2 electrolysis community. The chemical environment (near-neutral pH, carbonate buffer electrolyte) that inherently develops during long-term operation, however, limits the pool of applicable candidates. In this contribution, Ir was replaced with a porous Co 3 O 4 nanosheet catalyst layer as the anode of a zero-gap CO 2 electrolyzer cell. The catalyst was directly deposited on the Ti porous transport layer via hydrothermal synthesis, which allowed the precise control of the catalyst loading. Under optimal conditions (7 mg cm -2 Co 3 O 4 loading), 300 mA cm -2 current density was reached at 3.4 V applied cell voltage. The electrolyzer cell with the Co 3 O 4 anode was operated continuously for 50 hours at 250 mA cm -2 current density with stable cell voltage and CO 2 reduction selectivity.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion · CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts · Advanced battery technologies research
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (39)
Show source-provided references
1. Vass, A., Kormányos, A., Kószó, Z., Endrődi, B. & Janáky, C. Anode catalysts in CO2 electrolysis: challenges and untapped opportunities. ACS Catal. 12, 1037–1051 (2022).10.1021/acscatal.1c04978 ↗
2. Xu, Q. et al. Identifying and alleviating the durability challenges in membrane-electrode-assembly devices for high-rate CO electrolysis. Nat. Catal. 6, 1042–1051 (2023).10.1038/s41929-023-01034-y ↗
3. Vass, et al. Local chemical environment governs anode processes in CO2 electrolyzers. ACS Energy Lett. 6, 3801–3808 (2021).10.1021/acsenergylett.1c01937 ↗
4. Li, Q. et al. Anion exchange membrane water electrolysis: the future of green hydrogen. J. Phys. Chem. C. 127, 7901–7912 (2023).10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c00319 ↗
5. Dong, Y., Oloman, C.W., Gyenge, E.L., Su, J. & Chen, L. Transition metal based heterogeneous electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction at near-neutral pH. Nanoscale 12, 9924–9934 (2020).10.1039/D0NR02187C ↗
6. Jiang, N., Zhu, Z., Xue, W., Xia, B.Y. & You, B. Emerging electrocatalysts for water oxidation under near-neutral CO2 reduction conditions. Adv. Mater. 34, 1–22 (2022).
7. Joya, K.S., Takanabe, K. & de Groot, H.J.M. Surface generation of a Cobalt-derived water oxidation electrocatalyst developed in a neutral HCO3−/CO2 System. Adv. Energy Mater. 4, 2–7 (2014).10.1002/aenm.201400252 ↗
8. Meng, Y. et al. Highly active oxygen evolution integrated with efficient CO2 to CO electroreduction. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. 116, 23915–23922 (2019).10.1073/pnas.1915319116 ↗
9. Joya, K.S., Joya, Y.F. & de Groot, H.J.M. Ni-based electrocatalyst for water oxidation developed in-situ in a HCO3− /CO2 system at near-neutral pH. Adv. Energy Mater. 4, 3–7 (2014).
10. Chen, Z., Kang, P., Zhang, M.-T., Stoner, B.R. & Meyer, T.J. Cu(ii)/Cu(0) electrocatalyzed CO2 and H2O splitting. Energy Environ. Sci. 6, 813 (2013).10.1039/c3ee24487c ↗
11. Chen, Z. & Meyer, T.J. Copper(II) Catalysis of water oxidation. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 52, 700–703 (2013).10.1002/anie.201207215 ↗
12. Marcel Pourbaix. Atlas of Electrochemical Equilibria in Aqueous Solutions. (National Association of Corrosion Engineers, 1974).10.5006/37502 ↗
13. Kanan, M.W., Surendranath, Y. & Nocera, D.G. Cobalt–phosphate oxygen-evolving compound. Chem. Soc. Rev. 38, 109–114 (2009).10.1039/B802885K ↗
14. Burke, L.D., Lyons, M.E. & Murphy, O.J. Formation of hydrous oxide films on cobalt under potential cycling conditions. J. Electroanal. Chem. Interfacial Electrochem. 132, 247–261 (1982).10.1016/0022-0728(82)85022-5 ↗
15. Yu, M., Budiyanto, E. & Tüysüz, H. Principles of water electrolysis and recent progress in Cobalt-, Nickel-, and Iron-based oxides for the oxygen evolution reaction. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 61, e202103824 (2022).10.1002/anie.202103824 ↗
16. Zhang, W., Cui, L. & Liu, J. Recent advances in cobalt-based electrocatalysts for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions. J. Alloy. Compd. 821, 153542 (2020).10.1016/j.jallcom.2019.153542 ↗
17. Bergmann, A. et al. Reversible amorphization and the catalytically active state of crystalline Co3O4 during oxygen evolution. Nat. Commun. 6, 8625 (2015).10.1038/ncomms9625 ↗
18. Wang, C., Deng, R., Guo, M. & Zhang, Q. Recent progress of advanced Co3O4-based materials for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction in acid: from rational screening to efficient design. Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 48, 31920–31942 (2023).10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.05.030 ↗
19. Cherevko, S. Stabilization of non-noble metal electrocatalysts for acidic oxygen evolution reaction. Curr. Opin. Electrochem. 38, 101213 (2023).10.1016/j.coelec.2023.101213 ↗
20. Mondschein, J.S. et al. Crystalline Cobalt oxide films for sustained electrocatalytic oxygen evolution under strongly acidic conditions. Chem. Mater. 29, 950–957 (2017).10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b02879 ↗
21. Natarajan, K., Munirathinam, E. & Yang, T.C.K. Operando investigation of structural and chemical origin of Co3O4stability in acid under oxygen evolution reaction. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 13, 27140–27148 (2021).10.1021/acsami.1c07267 ↗
22. Krivina, R.A. et al. Anode catalysts in anion-exchange-membrane electrolysis without supporting electrolyte: conductivity, dynamics, and ionomer degradation. Adv. Mater. 34, 1–10 (2022).10.1002/adma.202203033 ↗
23. Zhang, L., Xu, Q., Hu, Y., Chen, L. & Jiang, H. Benchmarking the pH–stability relationship of metal oxide anodes in anion exchange membrane water electrolysis. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 11, 13251–13259 (2023).10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c01619 ↗
24. Wang, N. et al. Strong-Proton-adsorption co-based electrocatalysts achieve active and stable neutral seawater splitting. Adv. Mater. 35, 1–7 (2023).
25. Yan, Q. et al. Chromium-induced high covalent Co–O bonds for efficient anodic catalysts in PEM electrolyzer. Adv. Sci. 11, 1–8 (2024).
26. Wang, Y. et al. Tuning the Co pre-oxidation process of Co3O4 via geometrically reconstructed F–Co–O active sites for boosting acidic water oxidation. Energy Environ. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4EE03982C (2024).10.1039/D4EE03982C ↗
27. Yu, P.C. et al. Nitrogen-mediated promotion of cobalt-based oxygen evolution catalyst for practical anion-exchange membrane electrolysis. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 146, 20379–20390 (2024).10.1021/jacs.4c05983 ↗
28. Faisal, F. et al. Atomically defined Co3O4 (111) thin films prepared in ultrahigh vacuum: stability under electrochemical conditions. J. Phys. Chem. C. 122, 7236–7248 (2018).10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b00558 ↗
29. Chen, G.-Y. et al. Engineering cationic vacancies in octahedral sites of Co3O4 for high-efficiency oxygen evolution. Energy Fuels 37, 8523–8530 (2023).10.1021/acs.energyfuels.3c00769 ↗
30. Samu, A.A., Szenti, I., Kukovecz, A., Endrődi, B. & Janáky, C. Systematic screening of gas diffusion layers for high performance CO2 electrolysis. Commun. Chem. 6, 41 (2023).10.1038/s42004-023-00836-2 ↗
31. Endrődi, B. et al. High carbonate ion conductance of a robust PiperION membrane allows industrial current density and conversion in a zero-gap carbon dioxide electrolyzer cell. Energy Environ. Sci. 13, 4098–4105 (2020).10.1039/D0EE02589E ↗
32. Di, Y. et al. Effect of urea and ammonium fluoride ratio on CuCo2S4 /NF as a highly efficient HER catalyst. RSC Adv. 13, 28713–28728 (2023).10.1039/D3RA05496A ↗
33. Kiaeerad, P. & Naji, L. Synergistic effect of two complexing agents on the hydrothermal synthesis of self-supported ZnNiCo oxide as electrode material in supercapacitors. J. Electroanal. Chem. 901, 115779 (2021).10.1016/j.jelechem.2021.115779 ↗
34. Adhikari, H. et al. Synthesis and electrochemical performance of hydrothermally synthesized Co3O4 nanostructured particles in presence of urea. J. Alloy. Compd. 708, 628–638 (2017).10.1016/j.jallcom.2017.03.056 ↗
35. Yetim, N.K. Hydrothermal synthesis of Co3O4 with different morphology: Investigation of magnetic and electrochemical properties. J. Mol. Struct. 1226, 129414 (2021).10.1016/j.molstruc.2020.129414 ↗
36. Diallo, A., Beye, A.C., Doyle, T.B., Park, E. & Maaza, M. Green synthesis of Co3O4 nanoparticles via Aspalathus linearis: Physical properties. Green. Chem. Lett. Rev. 8, 30–36 (2015).10.1080/17518253.2015.1082646 ↗
37. Biesinger, M.C. et al. Resolving surface chemical states in XPS analysis of first row transition metals, oxides and hydroxides: Cr, Mn, Fe, Co and. Ni. Appl. Surf. Sci. 257, 2717–2730 (2011).10.1016/j.apsusc.2010.10.051 ↗
38. Kang, W. et al. Unraveling sequential oxidation kinetics and determining roles of multi-cobalt active sites on Co3O4 catalyst for water oxidation. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 145, 3470–3477 (2023).10.1021/jacs.2c11508 ↗
39. Samu, A.A. et al. Intermittent operation of CO2 electrolyzers at industrially relevant current densities. ACS Energy Lett. 7, 1859–1861 (2022).10.1021/acsenergylett.2c00923 ↗