Ag3PO4 electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction: enhancement from positive charge

Yong Qin; Fan Li; Peng Tu; Yanling Ma; Wenlong Chen; Fenglei Shi; Qian Xiang; Hao Shan; Lifu Zhang; Peng Tao; Chengyi Song; Wen Shang; Tao Deng; Hong Zhu; Jianbo Wu

doi:10.1039/c7ra12643c

Ag₃PO₄ electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction: enhancement from positive charge

RSC Adv. 2018 Jan 31;8(10):5382-5387. doi: 10.1039/c7ra12643c. eCollection 2018 Jan 29.

Authors

Yong Qin¹, Fan Li¹, Peng Tu², Yanling Ma¹, Wenlong Chen¹, Fenglei Shi¹, Qian Xiang¹, Hao Shan¹, Lifu Zhang¹, Peng Tao¹, Chengyi Song¹, Wen Shang¹, Tao Deng¹, Hong Zhu^{1

2

3}, Jianbo Wu^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 800 Dongchuan Road Shanghai 200240 People's Republic of China jianbowu@sjtu.edu.cn hong.zhu@sjtu.edu.cn.
² University of Michigan - Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 800 Dongchuan Road Shanghai 200240 P. R. China.
³ Materials Genome Initiative Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 800 Dongchuan Road Shanghai 200240 P. R. China.

Abstract

We have demonstrated Ag₃PO₄ as an active non-Pt electrocatalyst with enhanced activity compared with Ag for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Density functional theory reveals that better ORR performance of Ag atoms on Ag₃PO₄ surface than that on pure silver surface originates from more appropriate oxygen adsorption on positively charged Ag atoms. Further study of the surface geometry of Ag₃PO₄ including tetrahedron, rhombic dodecahedron and cube indicates that the highest density of Ag and appropriate oxygen adsorption on {110} surface of rhombic dodecahedral Ag₃PO₄ lead to the highest ORR activity, which is about 12 times that of Pt catalysts from a commercial perspective. It may be applicable for developing low-cost and highly active non-Pt catalytic materials from a broader range of material systems.