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Renewable generation of fuels using solar energy is a promising technology whose deployment hinges on the discovery of materials with a combination of durability and solar-to-chemical conversion efficiency that has yet to be demonstrated. Stable operation of photoanodes has been demonstrated with wide-gap semiconductors, as well as protected visible gap semiconductors. Visible photoresponse from electrochemically stable materials is quite rare. In this paper, we report the high-throughput discovery of an amorphous Ni-Sb (1:1) oxide photoanode that meets the requirements of operational stability, visible photoresponse, and appreciable photovoltage. X-ray absorption characterization of Ni and Sb establishes a structural connection to rutile NiSb2O6, guiding electronic structure characterization via X-ray photoelectron experiments and density functional theory. This amorphous photoanode opens avenues for photoelectrode development due to the lack of crystal anisotropy combined with its operational stability, which mitigates the formation of an interphase that disrupts the semiconductor-electrolyte junction.

The efficiency of the synthesis of renewable fuels and feedstocks from electrical sources is limited, at present, by the sluggish water oxidation reaction. Single-atom catalysts (SACs) with a controllable coordination environment and exceptional atom utilization efficiency open new paradigms toward designing high-performance water oxidation catalysts. Here, using operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements with calculations of spectra and electrochemical activity, we demonstrate that the origin of water oxidation activity of IrNiFe SACs is the presence of highly oxidized Ir single atom (Ir5.3+) in the NiFe oxyhydroxide under operating conditions. We show that the optimal water oxidation catalyst could be achieved by systematically increasing the oxidation state and modulating the coordination environment of the Ir active sites anchored atop the NiFe oxyhydroxide layers. Based on the proposed mechanism, we have successfully anchored Ir single-atom sites on NiFe oxyhydroxides (Ir0.1/Ni9Fe SAC) via a unique in situ cryogenic-photochemical reduction method that delivers an overpotential of 183 mV at 10 mA ⋅ cm-2 and retains its performance following 100 h of operation in 1 M KOH electrolyte, outperforming the reported catalysts and the commercial IrO2 catalysts. These findings open the avenue toward an atomic-level understanding of the oxygen evolution of catalytic centers under in operando conditions.

Non-rutile polymorphs of binary iridium oxide such as columbite IrO2 (α-IrO2) are promising candidates for highly active acid-stable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts, yet their synthesis has been challenging due to the dominant thermodynamic stability of rutile IrO2 (R-IrO2). Here, we report the growth of α-IrO2 via epitaxial thin films using pulsed laser deposition. We observe that, in competition with R-IrO2 (100), the films can be optimized to be predominantly (100)-oriented α-IrO2. Surprisingly, the activity of α-IrO2 shows a large discrepancy of ∼0.2 V in the overpotential compared to its predicted activity, which is resolved via theoretical calculations to be a crystal orientation effect. This demonstrates that the electrocatalytic activity can be significantly varied upon crystal orientation, a parameter that is difficult to control in conventional polycrystalline systems but accessible in epitaxial thin films. In total, this study demonstrates epitaxial thin film growth as a powerful technique, which can overcome large energetic instabilities on the order of ∼300 meV to stabilize metastable material structures inaccessible by bulk synthesis. This provides unique opportunities to effectively identify the atomic structure of active catalysts by combining investigations of metastable materials with theoretical predictions.

The discovery of high-performing and stable materials for sustainable energy applications is a pressing goal in catalysis and materials science. Understanding the relationship between a material's structure and functionality is an important step in the process, such that viable polymorphs for a given chemical composition need to be identified. Machine-learning-based surrogate models have the potential to accelerate the search for polymorphs that target specific applications. Herein, we report a readily generalizable active-learning (AL) accelerated algorithm for identification of electrochemically stable iridium oxide polymorphs of IrO2 and IrO3. The search is coupled to a subsequent analysis of the electrochemical stability of the discovered structures for the acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Structural candidates are generated by identifying all 956 structurally unique AB2 and AB3 prototypes in existing materials databases (more than 38000). Next, using an active learning approach, we find 196 IrO2 polymorphs within the thermodynamic amorphous synthesizability limit and reaffirm the global stability of the rutile structure. We find 75 synthesizable IrO3 polymorphs and report a previously unknown FeF3-type structure as the most stable, termed α-IrO3. To test the algorithms performance, we compare to a random search of the candidate space and report at least a 2-fold increase in the rate of discovery. Additionally, the AL approach can acquire the most stable polymorphs of IrO2 and IrO3 with fewer than 30 density functional theory optimizations. Analysis of the structural properties of the discovered polymorphs reveals that octahedral local coordination environments are preferred for nearly all low-energy structures. Subsequent Pourbaix Ir-H2O analysis shows that α-IrO3 is the globally stable solid phase under acidic OER conditions and supersedes the stability of rutile IrO2. Calculation of theoretical OER surface activities reveal ideal weaker binding of the OER intermediates on α-IrO3 than on any other considered iridium oxide. We emphasize that the proposed AL algorithm can be easily generalized to search for any binary metal oxide structure with a defined stoichiometry.

Multimetallic Ir-based systems offer significant opportunities for enhanced oxygen evolution electrocatalysis by modifying the electronic and geometric properties of the active catalyst. Herein, a systematic investigation of bimetallic Ir-based thin films was performed to identify activity and stability trends across material systems for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in acidic media. Electron beam evaporation was used to co-deposit metallic films of Ir, IrSn2, IrCr, IrTi, and IrNi. The electrocatalytic activity of the electrochemically oxidized alloys was found to increase in the following order: IrTi < IrSn2 < Ir ∼ IrNi < IrCr. The IrCr system demonstrates two times the catalytic activity of Ir at 1.65 V versus RHE. Density functional theory calculations suggest that this enhancement is due to Cr active sites that have improved oxygen binding energetics compared to those of pure Ir oxide. This work identifies IrCr as a promising new catalyst system that facilitates reduced precious metal loadings for acid-based OER catalysis.

A major challenge to the implementation of artificial photosynthesis (AP), in which fuels are produced from abundant materials (water and carbon dioxide) in an electrochemical cell through the action of sunlight, is the discovery of active, inexpensive, safe, and stable catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Multimetallic molecular catalysts, inspired by the natural photosynthetic enzyme, can provide important guidance for catalyst design, but the necessary mechanistic understanding has been elusive. In particular, fundamental transformations for reactive intermediates are difficult to observe, and well-defined molecular models of such species are highly prone to decomposition by intermolecular aggregation. Here, we present a general strategy for stabilization of the molecular cobalt-oxo cubane core (Co4O4) by immobilizing it as part of metal-organic frameworks, thus preventing intermolecular pathways of catalyst decomposition. These materials retain the OER activity and mechanism of the molecular Co4O4 analog yet demonstrate unprecedented long-term stability at pH 14. The organic linkers of the framework allow for chemical fine-tuning of activity and stability and, perhaps most importantly, provide "matrix isolation" that allows for observation and stabilization of intermediates in the water-splitting pathway.

Highly active catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are required for the development of photoelectrochemical devices that generate hydrogen efficiently from water using solar energy. Here, we identify the origin of a 500-fold OER activity enhancement that can be achieved with mixed (Ni,Fe)oxyhydroxides (Ni(1-x)Fe(x)OOH) over their pure Ni and Fe parent compounds, resulting in one of the most active currently known OER catalysts in alkaline electrolyte. Operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) using high energy resolution fluorescence detection (HERFD) reveals that Fe(3+) in Ni(1-x)Fe(x)OOH occupies octahedral sites with unusually short Fe-O bond distances, induced by edge-sharing with surrounding [NiO6] octahedra. Using computational methods, we establish that this structural motif results in near optimal adsorption energies of OER intermediates and low overpotentials at Fe sites. By contrast, Ni sites in Ni(1-x)Fe(x)OOH are not active sites for the oxidation of water.

The reaction pathways for the dehydrogenation of ethane, propane, and butane, over Pt are analyzed using density functional theory (DFT). Pt nanoparticles are represented by a tetrahedral Pt4 cluster. The objectives of this work were to establish which step is rate limiting and which one controls the selectivity for forming alkenes as opposed to causing further dehydrogenation of adsorbed alkenes to produce precursors responsible for catalyst deactivation due to coking. Further objectives of this work are to identify the role of adsorbed hydrogen, derived from H2 fed together with the alkane, on the reaction pathway, and the role of replacing one of the four Pt atoms by a Sn atom. A comparison of Gibbs free energies shows that in all cases the rate-determining step is cleavage of a C-H bond upon alkane adsorption. The selectivity to alkene formation versus precursors to coking is dictated by the relative magnitudes of the activation energies for alkene desorption and dehydrogenation of the adsorbed alkene. The presence of an adsorbed H atom on the cluster facilitates alkene desorption relative to dehydrogenation of the adsorbed alkene. Substitution of a Sn atom in the cluster to produce a Pt3Sn cluster leads to a downward shift of the potential energy surface for the reaction and causes an increase of the activity of the catalyst as suggested by recent experiments due to the lower net activation barrier for the rate limiting step. However, the introduction of Sn does not alter the relative activation barriers for gas-phase alkene formation versus loss of hydrogen from the adsorbed alkene, the process leading to the formation of coke precursors.

Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering and high-resolution X-ray absorption spectroscopy were used to identify the chemical state of a Co electrocatalyst in situ during the oxygen evolution reaction. After anodic electrodeposition onto Au(111) from a Co(2+)-containing electrolyte, the chemical environment of Co can be identified to be almost identical to CoOOH. With increasing potentials, a subtle increase of the Co oxidation state is observed, indicating a non-stoichiometric composition of the working OER catalyst containing a small fraction of Co(4+) sites. In order to confirm this interpretation, we used density functional theory with a Hubbard-U correction approach to compute X-ray absorption spectra of model compounds, which agree well with the experimental spectra. In situ monitoring of catalyst local structure and bonding is essential in the development of structure-activity relationships that can guide the discovery of efficient and earth abundant water splitting catalysts.

The presence of layered cobalt oxides has been identified experimentally in Co-based anodes under oxygen-evolving conditions. In this work, we report the results of theoretical investigations of the relative stability of layered and spinel bulk phases of Co oxides, as well as the stability of selected surfaces as a function of applied potential and pH. We then study the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on these surfaces and obtain activity trends at experimentally relevant electro-chemical conditions. Our calculated volume Pourbaix diagram shows that β-CoOOH is the active phase where the OER occurs in alkaline media. We calculate relative surface stabilities and adsorbate coverages of the most stable low-index surfaces of β-CoOOH: (0001), (0112), and (1014). We find that at low applied potentials, the (1014) surface is the most stable, while the (0112) surface is the more stable at higher potentials. Next, we compare the theoretical overpotentials for all three surfaces and find that the (1014) surface is the most active one as characterized by an overpotential of η = 0.48 V. The high activity of the (1014) surface can be attributed to the observation that the resting state of Co in the active site is Co(3+) during the OER, whereas Co is in the Co(4+) state in the less active surfaces. Lastly, we demonstrate that the overpotential of the (1014) surface can be lowered further by surface substitution of Co by Ni. This finding could explain the experimentally observed enhancement in the OER activity of Ni(y)Co(1-y)O(x) thin films with increasing Ni content. All energetics in this work were obtained from density functional theory using the Hubbard-U correction.