Highly Active Fe Sites in Ultrathin Pyrrhotite Fe7S8 Nanosheets Realizing Efficient Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution.

ABSTRACT: Identification of active sites in an electrocatalyst is essential for understanding of the mechanism of electrocatalytic water splitting. To be one of the most active oxygen evolution reaction catalysts in alkaline media, Ni-Fe based compounds have attracted tremendous attention, while the role of Ni and Fe sites played has still come under debate. Herein, by taking the pyrrhotite Fe7S8 nanosheets with mixed-valence states and metallic conductivity for examples, we illustrate that Fe could be a highly active site for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution. It is shown that the delocalized electrons in the ultrathin Fe7S8 nanosheets could facilitate electron transfer processes of the system, where d orbitals of FeII and FeIII would be overlapped with each other during the catalytic reactions, re

SUBMITTER: Chen S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5704283 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature