Nickel Confined in the Interlayer Region of Birnessite: an Active Electrocatalyst for Water Oxidation

Akila C Thenuwara; Elizabeth B Cerkez; Samantha L Shumlas; Nuwan H Attanayake; Ian G McKendry; Laszlo Frazer; Eric Borguet; Qing Kang; Richard C Remsing; Michael L Klein; Michael J Zdilla; Daniel R Strongin

doi:10.1002/anie.201601935

Nickel Confined in the Interlayer Region of Birnessite: an Active Electrocatalyst for Water Oxidation

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2016 Aug 22;55(35):10381-5. doi: 10.1002/anie.201601935. Epub 2016 May 6.

Authors

Akila C Thenuwara^{1

2}, Elizabeth B Cerkez¹, Samantha L Shumlas^{1

2}, Nuwan H Attanayake^{1

2}, Ian G McKendry^{1

2}, Laszlo Frazer^{1

2

3}, Eric Borguet^{1

2}, Qing Kang^{1

2}, Richard C Remsing^{1

2

4}, Michael L Klein^{1

2

4}, Michael J Zdilla^{1

2}, Daniel R Strongin^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.
² Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials (CCDM), USA.
³ School of Chemistry, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia.
⁴ Institute for Computational Molecular Science, Temple University, 1925 N. 12thSt, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA. dstrongi@temple.edu.
⁶ Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials (CCDM), USA. dstrongi@temple.edu.

PMID: 27151204
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201601935

Abstract

We report a synthetic method to enhance the electrocatalytic activity of birnessite for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) by intercalating Ni(2+) ions into the interlayer region. Electrocatalytic studies showed that nickel (7.7 atomic %)-intercalated birnessite exhibits an overpotential (η) of 400 mV for OER at an anodic current of 10 mA cm(-2) . This η is significantly lower than the η values for birnessite (η≈700 mV) and the active OER catalyst β-Ni(OH)2 (η≈550 mV). Molecular dynamics simulations suggest that a competition among the interactions between the nickel cation, water, and birnessite promote redox chemistry in the spatially confined interlayer region.

Keywords: birnessite; electrochemistry; nickel intercalation; oxygen evolution reaction; water splitting.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Catalysis
Electrochemical Techniques*
Nickel / chemistry*
Oxidation-Reduction
Oxygen / chemistry*
Particle Size
Surface Properties
Water / chemistry*

Substances

Water
Nickel
Oxygen

Grants and funding

P30 GM110758/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States