Operando Surface X-Ray Diffraction Studies of Co Oxide Catalyst Films for Electrochemical Water Splitting
Authors: Stettner Jochim , Wiegmann Tim , Qiu Canrong , Reikowski Finn , Bouvier Mathilde , Pacheco Ivan , Bertram Manon , Faisal Firas , Brummel Olaf , Libuda Jörg , Drnec Jakub , Allongue Philippe , Maroun Fouad , Magnussen Olaf M. 
Published: February 2024

The need for environmental friendly and sustainable energy conversion has triggered renewed interest into the electrochemical and photoelectrochemical splitting of water. A key challenge in this field is the development of economically viable electrocatalyst materials for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Transition-metal oxide catalysts, in particular the cobalt (hydr)oxide materials, have been found as promising candidates, since they are earth-abundant, efficient and scalable over a wide range of electrochemical conditions [1]. They present good catalytic properties and stability in alkaline solution under ambient conditions. Although a wide variety of different catalysts with rather diverse nanoscale morphologies have been synthesized and studied, the atomic scale surface structure usually is still unknown or poorly defined. This makes it difficult to compare their electrocatalytic activity and correlate it with ab initio theoretical studies, which hinders the development of clear structure-reactivity relationships and unambiguous determination of the OER reaction mechanism.

We presentsystematic comparative studiesof structurally well-defined, 18-35nm thick Co3O4 films, prepared by electrodeposition or physical vapor deposition (PVD) on Au(111), Au(100) and Ir(100) single crystals. In all cases a well ordered epitaxial Co3O4(111) arrangement results, but the film morphology differs substantially, as shown by AFM and surface X-ray diffraction (SXRD). In order to elucidate the quantitative relationship between the catalyst surface structure and the OER reactivity, synchrotron-based operando SXRD and electrochemical measurements were performed simultaneously under reaction conditions, using a dedicated operando cell which allows massive gas evolution and current densities of up to 150 mA/cm2 [2,3].

We find that the Co3O4(111) layers prepared by PVD on Ir(100) stay perfectly stable in the pre-OER and OER potential regime, whereas all electrodeposited films exhibit reversible changes in the oxide structure and oxidation state, in agreement with a previous study of Co3O4 catalysts [2]. Specifically, we observe the reverse formation of an ultrathin X-ray-amorphous CoOx(OH)y skin layer above 1 V vs. RHE and the gradual buildup of tensile lattice strain in the underneath, remaining Co3O4 layer with increasing potential. These structural changes occur for all electrodeposited samples, albeit to a different extent, depending on the film morphology [3]. Studying the relationship between the effective thickness of this skin layer and the OER reactivity, we found clear evidence that the entire skin layer is a three dimensional OER zone, which strongly exceeds one monolayer.

Our results suggest that even subtle changes of the surface morphology have large influence on the OER activity of the Co3O4 catalyst, which may be expected also for other spinel-type transition metal oxides. On the one hand, this reveals that great care as to be taken in comparing the OER activity of differently prepared catalysts. On the other hand, these observations may provide a base for targeted preparation of highly reactive oxide catalysts.

[1] C. C. L. McCrory et al., Journal of the American Chemical Society 2015, 137, 4347.

[2] F. Reikowski, et al., ACS Catalysis, 2019, 9, 3811.

[3] T. Wiegmann, et al., ACS Catalysis, 2022, 12, 256.