Chirality Engineering of Nanostructured Copper Oxide for Enhancing Oxygen Evolution from Water Electrolysis

Ying Li, Liang Qiu, Rui Tian, Zhongli Liu, Lin Yao, Lufei Huang, Wei Li, Yuyin Wang, Tao Wang, Baowen Zhou

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

The exploration of a new conceptual strategy for improving the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) of earth-abundant electrocatalysts is critical. In this study, chiral copper oxide nanoflower is explored by a self-assembly method. The characterization suggests the chiral structure originates from the crystal plane-level helical stack of the secondary nanosheets. Of note, the assembly illustrates a record-high degree of spin polarization of 96%, indicating the ideal alignment of electron spin. Moreover, density function theory calculations show the chiral structure reducing the reaction energy barrier (REB) while switching the potential-determining step from *O→*OOH to *OH→*O. Together with the enhanced electrochemical active surface area and accelerated charge transfer, the production of ground-state triplet O2 is improved via a spin-forbidden route that involves the singlet H2O/OH•. Consequently, the chiral nanoflower shows a overpotential of 308 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and a Tafel slope of 93.5 mV dec−1, which is even superior to the commercial RuO2 (310 mV, 101 mV dec−1). This study presents a new strategy for improving the OER activity by simultaneously enhancing electronic properties and lowering the REB of an non-noble electrocatalyst via chirality engineering.
Original languageEnglish
Article number2408248
JournalSmall
Early online date23 Oct 2024
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 23 Oct 2024

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • chiral induced spin selectivity
  • chirality-dependent electrocatalysis
  • crystal plane helical
  • inorganic chiral nanomaterials
  • oxygen evolution reaction

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