A polymeric hydrogel electrocatalyst for direct water oxidation

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 818
• Main Authors: Pei, Zengxia, Tan, Hao, Gu, Jinxing, Lu, Linguo, Zeng, Xin, Zhang, Tianqi, Wang, Cheng, Ding, Luyao, Cullen, Patrick J., Chen, Zhongfang, Zhao, Shenlong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 13-02-2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/133; 140/146; 147/135; 639/301/299/886; 639/638/161/886; Acrylic resins; Adaptability; Carbon; Catalysts; Electrocatalysts; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrogels; multidisciplinary; Oxidation; Oxygen evolution reactions; Polyacrylate; Polymers; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36532-x

Metal-free electrocatalysts represent a main branch of active materials for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), but they excessively rely on functionalized conjugated carbon materials, which substantially restricts the screening of potential efficient carbonaceous electrocatalysts. Herein, we demonstrate that a mesostructured polyacrylate hydrogel can afford an unexpected and exceptional OER activity – on par with that of benchmark IrO
2
catalyst in alkaline electrolyte, together with a high durability and good adaptability in various pH environments. Combined theoretical and electrokinetic studies reveal that the positively charged carbon atoms within the carboxylate units are intrinsically active toward OER, and spectroscopic operando characterizations also identify the fingerprint superoxide intermediate generated on the polymeric hydrogel backbone. This work expands the scope of metal-free materials for OER by providing a new class of polymeric hydrogel electrocatalysts with huge extension potentials.
Hydrogels are networked hydrophilic polymers with enriched polar groups and confined water but are relatively less explored as electrocatalysts. Here, the authors demonstrate that insulative polymeric hydrogels can be an underlying catalogue of metal-free oxygen evolution electrocatalyst with huge extension potentials.