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ELECTROCATALYSTS

An eye on surface changes

Nature Catalysis volume 1, pages 242–243 (2018)Cite this article

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For electrocatalysts, the activity and stability is determined by the surface — often just a few atomic layers thick. Now atom probe tomography is used to examine the changing surface of an oxygen evolution catalyst at near-atomic-scale resolution, linking structure to activity and stability.

With our rising emissions of carbon dioxide as well as the ever-growing energy demand, the need for developing better solutions for producing electricity from clean and renewable sources is urgent. Although the twentieth century has seen the development of the electrical grid and fossil fuels to power vehicles, there is no doubt that the twenty-first century will see the spread of electricity to power mobile applications and store renewable energy, which will require better energy storage and conversion devices. Water splitting — generating hydrogen and oxygen gas from water — is a key process for these purposes. Designing electrocatalysts to better generate and use hydrogen, in electrolysers and fuel cells respectively, is a cornerstone of the development of clean energy technologies1. However, although these technologies promise to reduce our carbon emissions, their efficiencies remain limited by the kinetic loss associated with the multi-steps reactions at the electrodes involving the exchange of electrons and protons. This is particularly true for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), the half reaction of water electrolysis that oxidizes water to form gaseous oxygen.

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Fig. 1: Surface analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chimie du Solide et de l’Energie, UMR8260, Collège de France, Paris, France

    Alexis Grimaud

  2. Réseau sur le Stockage Electrochimique de l’Energie (RS2E), Amiens, France

    Alexis Grimaud

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  1. Alexis Grimaud
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Correspondence to Alexis Grimaud.

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Grimaud, A. An eye on surface changes. Nat Catal 1, 242–243 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-018-0059-8

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