Evaluation of electrospun spinel-type high-entropy (Cr0.2Mn0.2Fe0.2Co0.2Ni0.2)3O4, (Cr0.2Mn0.2Fe0.2Co0.2Zn0.2)3O4 and (Cr0.2Mn0.2Fe0.2Ni0.2Zn0.2)3O4 oxide nanofibers as electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution in alkaline medium

Claudia Triolo; Simon Schweidler; Ling Lin; Gioele Pagot; Vito Di Noto; Ben Breitung; Saveria Santangelo

doi:10.1039/D3YA00062A

Evaluation of electrospun spinel-type high-entropy (Cr_0.2Mn_0.2Fe_0.2Co_0.2Ni_0.2)₃O₄, (Cr_0.2Mn_0.2Fe_0.2Co_0.2Zn_0.2)₃O₄ and (Cr_0.2Mn_0.2Fe_0.2Ni_0.2Zn_0.2)₃O₄ oxide nanofibers as electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution in alkaline medium†

Claudia Triolo,

^ab Simon Schweidler,

^c Ling Lin,

^c Gioele Pagot,

^bd Vito Di Noto,

^bd Ben Breitung

*^c and Saveria Santangelo

*^ab

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, dell’Energia, dell’Ambiente e dei Materiali (DICEAM), Università “Mediterranea”, Via Zehender s.n.c., Loc. Feo di Vito, 89122 Reggio Calabria, Italy
E-mail: saveria.santangelo@unirc.it

^b National Reference Center for Electrochemical Energy Storage (GISEL), Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per la Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali (INSTM), 50121 Firenze, Italy

^c Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
E-mail: ben.breitung@kit.edu

^d Section of Chemistry for the Technology (ChemTech), Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 9, 35131 Padova (PD), Italy

Abstract

Electrochemical water splitting is a promising sustainable-energy technology, but the slow kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction represents a limitation for its broad market penetration. Spinel-structured transition metal (TM) oxides have shown great potential as a sustainable alternative to precious metal-based electrocatalysts. High-entropy oxides (HEOs) with multiple TM-cation sites lend themselves to engineering of the octahedral redox-active centres to enhance the catalyst reactivity. This work focuses on the preparation of electrospun spinel-type HEO nanofibers (NFs), based on equimolar (Cr,Mn,Fe,Co,Ni), (Cr,Mn,Fe,Co,Zn) and (Cr,Mn,Fe,Ni,Zn) combinations, and their evaluation as electrocatalysts in alkaline medium together with (Cr,Mn,Fe,Co,Ni) HEO nanoparticles (NPs) prepared via the sol–gel method. (Cr_0.2Mn_0.2Fe_0.2Co_0.2Ni_0.2)₃O₄ NFs and NPs (Tafel slopes: 49.1 and 51.3 mV dec⁻¹, respectively) outperform both (Cr_0.2Mn_0.2Fe_0.2Co_0.2Zn_0.2)₃O₄ and (Cr_0.2Mn_0.2Fe_0.2Ni_0.2Zn_0.2)₃O₄ NFs (62.5 and 59.6 mV dec⁻¹, respectively) and IrO₂ reference electrocatalyst (52.9 mV dec⁻¹). The higher concentration of oxygen vacancies on their surface and the higher occupation of octahedral sites by redox-active Co²⁺ and Ni²⁺ centres are responsible for their behaviour. The present electrospun HEO NFs have great potential as ink-jet printable electrocatalysts.

This article is part of the themed collections: Energy Advances: Highlight UK & Europe and High Entropy Energy Materials

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D3YA00062A
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 06 Feb 2023
Accepted: 02 Apr 2023
First published: 03 Apr 2023
This article is Open Access

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Energy Adv., 2023,2, 667-678

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Evaluation of electrospun spinel-type high-entropy (Cr_0.2Mn_0.2Fe_0.2Co_0.2Ni_0.2)₃O₄, (Cr_0.2Mn_0.2Fe_0.2Co_0.2Zn_0.2)₃O₄ and (Cr_0.2Mn_0.2Fe_0.2Ni_0.2Zn_0.2)₃O₄ oxide nanofibers as electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution in alkaline medium

C. Triolo, S. Schweidler, L. Lin, G. Pagot, V. Di Noto, B. Breitung and S. Santangelo, Energy Adv., 2023, 2, 667 DOI: 10.1039/D3YA00062A

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