Chemical state of nickel nanoparticles during the oxygen evolution reaction in a carbonate-bicarbonate buffer solution

Bat Or Shalom; Miguel A. Andrés; Ashley R. Head; Boruch Z. Epstein; Olga Brontvein; Virginia Pérez-Dieste; Ignacio J. Villar-Garcia; Alex S. Walton; Kacper Polus; Robert S. Weatherup; Baran Eren

doi:10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102165

Chemical state of nickel nanoparticles during the oxygen evolution reaction in a carbonate-bicarbonate buffer solution

Bat Or Shalom, Miguel A. Andrés, Ashley R. Head, Boruch Z. Epstein, Olga Brontvein, Virginia Pérez-Dieste, Ignacio J. Villar-Garcia, Alex S. Walton, Kacper Polus, Robert S. Weatherup, Baran Eren^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The chemical state of nickel anodes during the oxygen evolution reaction can impact their electrocatalytic performance. Here, X-ray photoelectron and absorption spectroscopies reveal the chemical state of nickel nanoparticles under oxygen evolution reaction conditions in a mildly alkaline carbonate-bicarbonate buffer solution. Ni²⁺ and Ni³⁺ species are observed at the reaction onset potential with a 7:4 ratio, with no remaining metallic nickel. These species include NiO, which increasingly converts to other Ni²⁺ and Ni³⁺ species once the potential is increased above the onset potential. Conversely, when a 20-nm-thick nickel film is used instead of nickel nanoparticles, a significant amount of metallic nickel remains in the inner layers. Nickel nanoparticles also undergo significant morphological and structural changes during the reaction, as evidenced by ex situ transmission electron microscopy. Amorphization of the nanoparticles is attributed to significant H₂O incorporation, with the oxygen intensity increasing both in operando and ex situ measurements.

Original language	English
Article number	102165
Journal	Cell Reports Physical Science
Volume	5
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102165
Publication status	Published Online - 21 Aug 2024

Funding

This research was supported by grant no 2020152 from the U.S.- Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF). It was also supported by the Ministry of Energy, Israel. B.-O.S. is grateful for the doctoral fellowship from the Ministry of Energy of Israel. M.A.A. acknowledges the “la Caixa” Foundation and Weizmann Dean of Faculty postdoctoral fellowships. B.E. and A.S.W. acknowledge the support from the Weizmann-UK Making Connections Program. R.S.W. acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (EXISTAR, grant agreement no. 950598) and a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (MR/V024558/1). B.Z.E. acknowledges a studentship from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/T517811/1). IJVG acknowledges funding from Ministerio de Ciencia e innovación (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and NextGenerationEU (OSMIBatt-CNS2022-135285). This research used the ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in the Proximal Probes Facility of the CFN, which is a US Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility, at BNL, under contract no. DE-SC0012704. The authors also acknowledge the use of the ALBA Synchrotron for the XAS measurements, which were performed at BL-24 CIRCE beamline at ALBA Synchrotron with the collaboration of the ALBA staff. Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s)

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

General Chemistry
General Materials Science
General Engineering
General Energy
General Physics and Astronomy

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Shalom, B. O., Andrés, M. A., Head, A. R., Epstein, B. Z., Brontvein, O., Pérez-Dieste, V., Villar-Garcia, I. J., Walton, A. S., Polus, K., Weatherup, R. S., & Eren, B. (2024). Chemical state of nickel nanoparticles during the oxygen evolution reaction in a carbonate-bicarbonate buffer solution. Cell Reports Physical Science, 5(9), Article 102165. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102165

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title = "Chemical state of nickel nanoparticles during the oxygen evolution reaction in a carbonate-bicarbonate buffer solution",

abstract = "The chemical state of nickel anodes during the oxygen evolution reaction can impact their electrocatalytic performance. Here, X-ray photoelectron and absorption spectroscopies reveal the chemical state of nickel nanoparticles under oxygen evolution reaction conditions in a mildly alkaline carbonate-bicarbonate buffer solution. Ni2+ and Ni3+ species are observed at the reaction onset potential with a 7:4 ratio, with no remaining metallic nickel. These species include NiO, which increasingly converts to other Ni2+ and Ni3+ species once the potential is increased above the onset potential. Conversely, when a 20-nm-thick nickel film is used instead of nickel nanoparticles, a significant amount of metallic nickel remains in the inner layers. Nickel nanoparticles also undergo significant morphological and structural changes during the reaction, as evidenced by ex situ transmission electron microscopy. Amorphization of the nanoparticles is attributed to significant H2O incorporation, with the oxygen intensity increasing both in operando and ex situ measurements.",

author = "Shalom, {Bat Or} and Andr{\'e}s, {Miguel A.} and Head, {Ashley R.} and Epstein, {Boruch Z.} and Olga Brontvein and Virginia P{\'e}rez-Dieste and Villar-Garcia, {Ignacio J.} and Walton, {Alex S.} and Kacper Polus and Weatherup, {Robert S.} and Baran Eren",

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doi = "10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102165",

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AU - Andrés, Miguel A.

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AU - Epstein, Boruch Z.

AU - Brontvein, Olga

AU - Pérez-Dieste, Virginia

AU - Villar-Garcia, Ignacio J.

AU - Walton, Alex S.

AU - Polus, Kacper

AU - Weatherup, Robert S.

AU - Eren, Baran

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N2 - The chemical state of nickel anodes during the oxygen evolution reaction can impact their electrocatalytic performance. Here, X-ray photoelectron and absorption spectroscopies reveal the chemical state of nickel nanoparticles under oxygen evolution reaction conditions in a mildly alkaline carbonate-bicarbonate buffer solution. Ni2+ and Ni3+ species are observed at the reaction onset potential with a 7:4 ratio, with no remaining metallic nickel. These species include NiO, which increasingly converts to other Ni2+ and Ni3+ species once the potential is increased above the onset potential. Conversely, when a 20-nm-thick nickel film is used instead of nickel nanoparticles, a significant amount of metallic nickel remains in the inner layers. Nickel nanoparticles also undergo significant morphological and structural changes during the reaction, as evidenced by ex situ transmission electron microscopy. Amorphization of the nanoparticles is attributed to significant H2O incorporation, with the oxygen intensity increasing both in operando and ex situ measurements.

AB - The chemical state of nickel anodes during the oxygen evolution reaction can impact their electrocatalytic performance. Here, X-ray photoelectron and absorption spectroscopies reveal the chemical state of nickel nanoparticles under oxygen evolution reaction conditions in a mildly alkaline carbonate-bicarbonate buffer solution. Ni2+ and Ni3+ species are observed at the reaction onset potential with a 7:4 ratio, with no remaining metallic nickel. These species include NiO, which increasingly converts to other Ni2+ and Ni3+ species once the potential is increased above the onset potential. Conversely, when a 20-nm-thick nickel film is used instead of nickel nanoparticles, a significant amount of metallic nickel remains in the inner layers. Nickel nanoparticles also undergo significant morphological and structural changes during the reaction, as evidenced by ex situ transmission electron microscopy. Amorphization of the nanoparticles is attributed to significant H2O incorporation, with the oxygen intensity increasing both in operando and ex situ measurements.

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Chemical state of nickel nanoparticles during the oxygen evolution reaction in a carbonate-bicarbonate buffer solution

Abstract

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