Elucidating the Mechanism of Fe Incorporation in In Situ Synthesized Co-Fe Oxygen-Evolving Nanocatalysts.

Ni- and Co-based catalysts with added Fe demonstrate promising activity in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) during alkaline water electrolysis, with the presence of Fe in a certain quantity being crucial for their enhanced performance. The mode of incorporation, local placement, and structure of Fe ions in the host catalyst, as well as their direct/indirect contribution to enhancing the OER activity, remain under active investigation. Herein, the mechanism of Fe incorporation into a Co-based host was investigated using an in situ synthesized Co-Fe catalyst in an alkaline electrolyte containing Co and Fe.

A fluoropolymer bifunctional solid membrane interface for improving the discharge duration in aqueous Al-air batteries.

Herein, a fluoropolymer bifunctional solid membrane interface (SMI) for an aqueous Al-air battery is proposed, which inhibits anodic self-corrosion, while concurrently reducing the accumulation of undesirable by-products. A battery using the SMI exhibits a remarkable anticorrosion efficiency of 81.31% and achieves an astonishing battery lifetime improvement rate of 184.

Oxygen Evolution Reaction in BaSrCoFeO Aided by Intrinsic Co/Fe Spinel-Like Surface.

Among the perovskites used to catalyze the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), BaSrCoFeO (BSCF) exhibits excellent activity which is thought to be related to dynamic reconstruction at the flexible perovskite surface due to accommodation of large amount of oxygen vacancies. By studying the local structure and chemistry of BSCF surfaces, in detail, via a range of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) methods, we show that the surfaces of the as-synthesized BSCF particles are Co/Fe rich, and remarkably, adopt a spinel-like structure with a reduced valence of Co ions. Post-mortem and identical location TEM analyses reveal that the Co/Fe spinel-like surface retains a stable chemical environment of the Co/Fe ions, although its structure weakens after electrochemical processing.