Mesoporous nickel-iron-manganese-alloy based metal/metal oxide composite thick film catalysts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10680231-B2
Application number	US-201815990650-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2018
Priority date	Nov 29, 2015
Publication date	Jun 9, 2020
Grant date	Jun 9, 2020

Abstract

Selective alloy corrosion is used to synthesize a robust and ultrafine mesoporous NiFeMn-based metal/metal oxide oxygen evolving catalyst with ligament and pore sizes in the range of 10 nm and a BET surface area of 43 m 2 /g. As an oxygen evolving catalyst, the mesoporous catalyst exhibits high stability (>264 hours) at a high current density (500 mA/cm 2 ) with a low overpotential (360 mV) using a moderate electrolyte concentration (1 M KOH). The catalyst is made from non-precious metals and its fabrication is straight forward and directly applicable to large-scale synthesis.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A nanostructured catalytic electrode, comprising:
(a) a nanoporous alloy material represented by the formula (Ni a Fe b )E t at %;
(b) wherein a is in the range of 30<a<100;
(c) wherein b is in the range of 0<b<60;
(d) wherein t is in the range of 0<t<40;
(e) wherein E is an element selected from the group of elements consisting of Mg, Al, Ti, Mn, Zn, and Ta; and
(f) a layer of an NiFe oxide covering one or more surfaces of the nanoporous alloy material.

2. The nanostructured electrode of claim 1 , wherein said nanoporous alloy material comprises Ni 60 Fe 30 Mn 10 .

3. The nanostructured electrode of claim 1 , wherein said layer of oxide has a thickness in the range of 1 nm to 10 nm.

4. The nanostructured electrode of claim 1 , wherein said layer of oxide is a uniform thickness with a thickness in the range of 1 nm to 50 nm.

5. The nanostructured electrode of claim 1 , wherein said layer of NiFe oxide comprises a NiFeE oxide layer, wherein E is an element selected from the group of elements consisting of Mg, Al, Ti, Mn, Zn, and Ta.

6. The nanostructured electrode of claim 1 , wherein said alloy material has ligaments and pores on the order of 10 nm and has a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area on the order of 43 m 2 /g.

7. The nanostructured electrode of claim 1 , wherein said alloy material has a catalytic area per cm 2 on the order of 3×10 4 cm 2 .

8. The nanostructured electrode of claim 1 , wherein said alloy material exhibits a catalytic activity towards water oxidation of 500 mA/cm 2 at 360 mV overpotential in 1 M KOH electrolyte.

9. An electrochemical cell comprising:
(a) a vessel containing an aqueous alkali electrolyte and an ion permeable membrane separating the electrolyte into a first volume and a second volume;
(b) a cathode coupled to a source of current disposed in the first volume of electrolyte; and
(c) a nanostructured catalytic anode, wherein said anode comprises:
(i) an alloy material represented by the formula (Ni a Fe b )E t at %;
(ii) wherein a is in the range of 30<a<100;
(iii) wherein b is in the range of 0<b<60;
(iv) wherein t is in the range of 0<t<40; and
(v) wherein E is an element selected from the group of elements consisting of Mg, Al, Ti, Mn, Zn, and Ta; and
(vi) a layer of oxide covering one or more surfaces of the alloy material.

10. The cell of claim 9 , wherein a ratio of index a to index b in the alloy material represented by the formula (Ni a Fe b )E t at % is 2:1.

11. The cell of claim 10 , wherein the alloy material comprises: Ni 60 Fe 30 Mn 10 .

12. The cell of claim 9 , wherein the layer of oxide is a NiFe oxide layer that has a thickness in the range of 1 nm to 50 nm.

13. The cell of claim 9 , wherein the layer of oxide is a NiFeE oxide layer that has a thickness in the range of 1 nm to 50 nm, wherein E is an element selected from the group of elements consisting of Mg, Al, Ti, Mn, Zn, and Ta.

14. The cell of claim 9 , wherein said anode has ligaments and pores on the order of 10 nm and has a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area on the order of 43 m 2 /g.

15. The cell of claim 9 , wherein said anode has a catalytic area per cm 2 on the order of 3×10 4 cm 2 .

16. The cell of claim 9 , wherein said anode exhibits a catalytic activity towards water oxidation of 500 mA/cm 2 at 360 mV overpotential in 1 M KOH electrolyte.

Assignees

• Univ California

Inventors

• Tolbert Sarah
• Detsi Eric
• Lesel Benjamin

Classifications

• C25B1/10

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic

• C22C38/04

  containing manganese · CPC title

• B01J23/80

  with zinc, cadmium or mercury · CPC title

• Y02E60/366

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• B01J37/06

  Washing {(B01J37/0009, B01J37/0018 take precedence)} · CPC title