• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.549-558
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• 2018

The overall efficiency depend on the overpotential of the oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline water electrolysis. Therefore, it is necessary to research to reduce the oxygen evolution overpotential of electrodes. In this study, Ni-Zn-Fe electrodes were prepared by electroplating and the surface area was increased by Zn leaching process. Electroplating variables were studied to optimize the plating parameters(electroplating current density, pH value of electroplating solution, Ni/Fe content ratio). Ni-Zn-Fe electrode, which is electroplated in a modified Watts bath, showed 0.294 V of overpotential at $0.1A/cm^2$. That result is better than that of Ni and Ni-Zn plated electrodes. As the electroplating current density of the Ni-Zn-Fe electrode increased, the particle size tended to increase and the overpotential of oxygen evolution reaction decreased. As reducing pH of electroplating solution from 4 to 2, Fe content in electrode and activity of oxygen evolution reaction decreased.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.120-127
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• 2022

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) has been widely used as a catalyst for the bifunctional activities of hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions (HER and OER). Here, we investigated size dependent HER and OER performance of MoS₂. The smallest size (90 nm) of MoS₂ exhibits the lowest overpotential of -0.28 V at -10 mAcm^-2 and 1.52 V at 300 mAcm^-2 with the smallest Tafel slopes of 151 and 176 mVdec^-1 for HER and OER, respectively, compared to bigger sizes (2 ㎛ and 6 ㎛) of MoS₂. The better HER and OER performance is attributed to high electrochemical active surface area (6 × 10^-4 cm²) with edge sites and low charge transfer resistance (18.1 Ω), confirming that the smaller MoS₂ nanosheets have the better catalytic behavior.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.164-170
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• 2021

Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB) have emerged as large-scale energy storage systems (ESS) due to their advantages such as low cross-contamination, long life, and flexible design. However, Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in the negative half-cell causes a harmful influence on the performance of the VRFB by consuming current. Moreover, HER hinders V²⁺/V³⁺ redox reaction between electrode and electrolyte by forming a bubble. To address the HER problem, carbon nanotube/graphite felt electrode (CNT/GF) with oxygen functional groups was synthesized through the hydrothermal method in the H₂SO₄ + HNO₃ (3:1) mixed acid solution. These oxygen functional groups on the CNT/GF succeed in suppressing the HER and improving charge transfer for V²⁺/V³⁺ redox reaction. As a result, the oxygen functional group applied electrode exhibited a low overpotential of 0.395 V for V²⁺/V³⁺ redox reaction. Hence, this work could offer a new strategy to design and synthesize effective electrodes for HER suppression and improving the energy density of VRFB.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.408-413
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• 2022

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is very sluggish compared to the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Considering this difference is essential when designing and developing a cost-effective and facile synthesis method for a catalyst that can effectively perform OER activity. The material should possess a high surface area and more active sites. Considering these points, in this work we successfully synthesized sheets of cobalt phosphate hydrate (CP) and sulphurated cobalt phosphate hydrate (CPS) material, using simple successive ionic layered adsorption and reaction (SILAR) methods followed by sulfurization. The CP and CPS electrodes exhibited overpotentials of 279 mV with a Tafel slope of 212 mV dec^-1 and 381 mV with a Tafel slope of 212 mV dec^-1, respectively. The superior performance after sulfurization is attributed to the intrinsic activity of the deposited well-aligned nanosheet structures, which provided a substantial number of electrochemically active surface sites, speeded electron transfer, and at the same time improved the diffusion of the electrolyte.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.243-251
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• 2023

Developing oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts is essential to accomplish viable CO₂ and water electrolysis. Herein, we report the fabrication and OER performance of Ni-foam (NF)-immobilized Ni₆ nanoclusters (NCs) (Ni₆/NF) prepared by a dip-coating process. The Ni₆/NF electrode exhibited a high current density of 500 mA/cm² for the OER at an overpotential as low as 0.39 V. Ni₆/NF exhibited high durability in an alkaline solution without corrosion. Electrokinetic studies revealed that OER can be easily initiated on Ni6 NC with fast electron-transfer rates. Finally, we demonstrated stable CO₂-to-CO electroreduction using an NC-based zero-gap CO₂ electrolyzer operated at a current density of 100 mA/cm² and a full-cell potential of 2.0 V for 12 h.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.701-705
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• 2019

Oxygen-evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline media has been considered as a key process for various energy applications. Many types of catalysts have been developed to reduce high overpotential in OER, such as metal alloys, metal oxides, perovskite, or spinel. Nickel oxide (NiO) has high potential to increase OER activity according to volcano plots. The exact mechanisms for OER has not been discovered, but defects such as cation or anion vacancy typically act as an active site for diverse electrochemical reactions. In this study, nitrogen was doped into NiO by using ethylenediamine for formation of Ni vacancy, and the effects of N doping on OER activity and stability was studied.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.972-976
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• 1997

Single phase ruthenium oxides with perovskite (ATi1-xRuxO3 (A=Ca, Sr)) and pyrochlore structure (Bi2Ru2O7, Pb2Ru2O6.5) have been prepared reproducibly by solid state reaction methods and their electrocatalytic activities for oxygen evolution have been examined by Tafel plots. Tafel slopes vary from a low value of 42 mV/decade up to 222 mV/decade at room temperature. The high exchange current densities and high Tafel slopes compared with those obtained from the RuO2 DSA electrode at the crystalline single phase metal oxide electrodes suggest that they are better electrocatalysts at low overpotentials. A favorable change in the Tafel slope for the oxygen evolution reaction occurs as the ruthenium content increases. Substitution of Ti for Ru in the perovskite solid solutions enhanced their chemical stability by losing marginal electrochemical activity.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.339-344
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• 2022

The lattice oxygen mechanism (LOM) is considered one of the promising approaches to overcome the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER), bypassing -OOH^* coordination with a high energetic barrier. Activated lattice oxygen can participate in the OER as a reactant and enables O^*-O^* coupling for direct O₂ formation. However, such reaction kinetics inevitably include the generation of oxygen vacancies, which leads to structural degradation, and eventually shortens the lifetime of catalysts. Here, we demonstrate that Se incorporation significantly enhances OER performance and the stability of NiFe (oxy)hydroxide (NiFe) which follows the LOM pathway. In Se introduced NiFe (NiFeSe), Se forms not only metal-Se bonding but also Se-oxygen bonding by replacing oxygen sites and metal sites, respectively. As a result, transition metals show reduced valence states while oxygen shows less reduced valence states (O^-/O₂^2-) which is a clear evidence of lattice oxygen activation. By virtue of its electronic structure modulation, NiFeSe shows enhanced OER activity and long-term stability with robust active lattice oxygen compared to NiFe.

• Ceramist
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.182-188
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• 2019

Alternative energy sources to the systems using hydrocarbon fuels have been actively developed due to exhaustion of fossil fuels and issue of global warming by CO₂. Fuel cells have attracted great attentions to solve these issues as electricity can be produced with product of clean H₂O by using H₂-O₂ as a fuel. Besides, using reverse reactions make it possible to produce H₂ and O₂ gas from electrolysis of water. There are various fuel cells systems depending on the types of electrolyte, and in this mini-reviews, the main aim is to focus on perovskite oxides as a catalyst for oxygen-evolution reactions in alkaline electrolysis and its potential to application of alkaline electrolysis systems.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.217-222
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• 2020

The design and fabrication of catalysts with low-cost and high electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) have remained challenging because of the sluggish kinetics of this reaction. The key to the pursuit of efficient electrocatalysts is to design them with high surface area and more active sites. In this work, we have successfully synthesized a highly stable and active NiCo₂S₄ nanowire array on a Ni-foam substrate (NiCo₂S₄ NW/NF) via a two-step hydrothermal synthesis approach. This NiCo₂S₄ NW/NF exhibits overpotential as low as 275 mV, delivering a current density of 20 mA cm^-2 (versus reversible hydrogen electrode) with a low Tafel slope of 89 mV dec^-1 and superior long-term stability for 20 h in 1 M KOH electrolyte. The outstanding performance is ascribed to the inherent activity of the binder-free deposited, vertically aligned nanowire structure, which provides a large number of electrochemically active surface sites, accelerating electron transfer, and simultaneously enhancing the diffusion of electrolyte.