Active facet determination of layered double hydroxide for oxygen evolution reaction

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays an indispensable role in developing renewable clean energy resources. One of the critical bottlenecks for the reaction is the development of highly efficient electro-catalyst to decrease the high overpotentials of four-electron transfer process of OER. Recently, layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have been widely investigated among the most promising electrocatalysts for OER due to their high intrinsic activity, excellent stability as well as low-cost. However, it remains unclear how the exposed facet of the LDHs affects their electrocatalytic activity. Here we elucidate the active edge facet of LDHs towards OER by combining the finely control of edge facet ratio coupled with molecular probe method and computational calculation. The LDHs with higher edge facet area ratio show superior activity with low onset potential as well as decreased Tafel slope. The active edge site is further proved by blocking the unsaturated edge sites with cyanate probe anion, of which the adsorption largely inhibits OER activity. Furthermore, based on density functional theory (DFT) calculation, two-dimensional map of theoretical overpotentials as a function of Gibbs free energy reveals that the edge (100) facet exhibits a much higher OER activity than basal plane (001) facet. (c) 2021 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

LDHs have been identified as promising electrocatalysts for OER due to their high intrinsic activity, excellent stability, and low cost. The active edge facet of LDHs plays a crucial role in improving OER activity, with higher edge facet area ratio showing superior performance. Density functional theory calculation indicates that the edge facet exhibits higher OER activity compared to the basal plane facet.