Journal of Energy Chemistry

Journal of Energy Chemistry ›› 2022, Vol. 69 ›› Issue (6): 301-329.DOI: 10.1016/j.jechem.2022.01.025

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Stability and deactivation of OER electrocatalysts: A review

Feng Zenga,b, Chalachew Mebrahtub, Longfei Liaob, Anna Katharina Beinec, Regina Palkovitsb,c,*   

  1. aState Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, Jiangsu, China;
    bInstitute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 2, 52074 Aachen, Germany;
    cMax Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, Stiftstraße. 34-36, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
  • Received:2021-12-06 Revised:2022-01-16 Accepted:2022-01-18 Online:2022-06-15 Published:2022-10-25
  • Contact: * E-mail address: Palkovits@itmc.rwth-aachen.de (R. Palkovits).
  • About author:Feng Zeng is a researcher in State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University since 2021. He received his Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Tsinghua University in 2012. In 2015, he received his Master’s degree in chemical technology under the supervision of Prof. Qinghe Yang from the Research Institute of Petroleum Processing Sinopec. Then, in 2015 he joined Prof. Regina Palkovits’ group at RWTH Aachen University as a Ph.D. student working in heterogeneous catalysis and obtained his Ph.D. degree in technical chemistry in 2019, and he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the same group afterward. His research focuses on catalyst design for water electrolysis as well as for higher alcohols synthesis through CO and CO2 hydrogenation.
    Chalachew Mebrahtu received his B.Sc. (2008) in applied chemistry and M.Sc. (2013) in physical chemistry from Arba Minch University and Haramaya University, respectively. After working as assistant lecturer/lecturer at Haramaya University from 2009 to 2014, he was admitted to SINCHEM (Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral Program) at University of Messina (Italy) and RWTH Aachen University (Germany) where he was awarded his Ph.D. in chemistry/engineering of materials in 2018. Currently, he is working as a group leader at RWTH Aachen University. His research focuses on the design of advanced catalysts to store renewable energy by converting CO2 to synthetic fuels.
    Longfei Liao received his B.Sc. degree in 2013 from School of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University Science and Technology under the supervision of Prof. Tingzhi Liu. He then obtained his M.Sc. degree in 2017 from State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology under the supervision of associate Prof. Ying Liu. In the same year, he studied shortly supervised by Prof. Sebastian Paul on CO2 hydrogenation at the Ecole Centrale de Lille in France. From 2018 to 2021, he conducted his Ph. D. studies at Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University under the supervision of Prof. Regina Palkovits. During this period, his main work focused on the development of covalent organic frameworks for photocatalysis oxidation of alcohols. In 2021, he joined the School of Materials Science of Harbin Institute of Technology as a postdoctoral fellow under the guidance of Prof. Yuming Li, mainly focused on hydrogen production from electrolytic water.
    Anna Katharina Beine studied Chemistry at RWTH Aachen University in Germany. She received her Ph. D. degree in 2019 from the Chair of Heterogeneous Catalysis and Chemical Technology of Prof. Regina Palkovits. She then joined the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany and heads the group of ‘‘Solid molecular catalysts”. In her research, she works on catalyst development for the hydrogenolysis of hemicellulose, the oxygen evolution reaction and the acid catalyzed hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass. Together with her group, she wants to contribute to overcoming a fossil-based economy.
    Regina Palkovits is a full professor for Heterogeneous Catalysis & Chemical Technology at RWTH Aachen University. She graduated in Chemical Engineering from Technical University Dortmund in 2003 and finished her Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Ferdi Schüth at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung in 2006. Afterward, she joined the group of Prof. Bert Weckhuysen at Utrecht University as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2008, she returned as a group leader to the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung and since 2010 she has been Professor at RWTH Aachen University. Her research focusses on the design of catalysts and processes for the efficient valorisation of renewable resources. Professor Palkovits currently heads the Sustainable Chemistry Division of GDCh and is vice-chair of the scientific advisory committee of LiKat. She received numerous awards, including the 2019 EFCATS Young Researcher Award, the 2016 DECHEMA Award, and the Innovation Prize of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in the Young Researchers category. She is a Max Planck Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion and as of 2020, a member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts.

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Abstract: Recently, H2 has attracted increasing attention as green energy carrier holding the possibility to replace fossil fuel-based energy sources and thereby reduce CO2 emissions. Green hydrogen can be generated by water electrolysis using renewable energies like wind and solar power. When it is combusted, only water forms as by-product. However, the efficiency of water electrolysis is hampered by the anodic oxygen evo-lution reaction (OER) because of the slow kinetics which leads to a high overpotential. Therefore, many catalysts have been developed for OER to facilitate the kinetics and reduce the overpotential. In addition to electrocatalytic activity, the stability of the catalysts is imperative for industrial application and has been intensively studied. In this review, we cover recent findings on the stability and deactivation mech-anisms of OER catalysts. We discuss the correlation between OER activity and stability, methodologies and experimental techniques to study the stability and deactivation as well as the deactivation mecha-nisms, together with factors influencing stability. Furthermore, strategies for stabilizing and regenerating OER catalysts as well as methods to predict stability are summarized. Finally, the review highlights emerging methodologies yet to be explored and future directions of stability studies and the design of highly stable OER catalysts.

Key words: Oxygen evolution, OER, Stability Durability Deactivation