Oxygen Evolution Reaction over the Au/YSZ Interface at High Temperature

Yuefeng Song; Si Zhou; Qiao Dong; Yangsheng Li; Xiaomin Zhang; Na Ta; Zhi Liu; Jijun Zhao; Fan Yang; Guoxiong Wang; Xinhe Bao

doi:10.1002/anie.201814612

Oxygen Evolution Reaction over the Au/YSZ Interface at High Temperature

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2019 Mar 26;58(14):4617-4621. doi: 10.1002/anie.201814612. Epub 2019 Mar 4.

Authors

Yuefeng Song^{1

2}, Si Zhou³, Qiao Dong^{2

4}, Yangsheng Li^{1

2}, Xiaomin Zhang¹, Na Ta¹, Zhi Liu⁴, Jijun Zhao³, Fan Yang¹, Guoxiong Wang¹, Xinhe Bao¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhongshan Road 457, Dalian, 116023, China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Materials Modification by Laser, Ions, and Electron Beams (Dalian University of Technology), Ministry of Education, Dalian, 116024, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, China.

PMID: 30737877
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201814612

Abstract

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a sluggish electrocatalytic reaction in solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) at high temperatures (600-850 °C). Perovskite oxide has been widely investigated for catalyzing the OER; however, the formation of cation-enriched secondary phases at the oxide/oxide interface blocks the active sites and decreases OER performance. Herein, we show that the Au/yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) interface possesses much higher OER activity than the lanthanum strontium manganite/YSZ anode. Electrochemical characterization and density functional theory calculations suggest that the Au/YSZ interface provides a favorable path for OER by triggering interfacial oxygen spillover from the YSZ to the Au surface. In situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results confirm the existence of spillover oxygen on the Au surface. This study demonstrates that the Au/YSZ interface possesses excellent catalytic activity for OER at high temperatures in SOECs.

Keywords: electrolysis; metal-oxide interfaces; oxygen evolution reaction; solid oxide electrolysis cells.

Abstract

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