TY - JOUR A1 - Sachse, René A1 - Pfüger, Mika A1 - Velasco-Vélez, Juan-Jesús A1 - Sahre, Mario A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Bernicke, Michael A1 - Bernsmeier, Denis A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Krumrey, Michael A1 - Strasser, Peter A1 - Kraehnert, Ralph A1 - Hertwig, Andreas T1 - Assessing optical and electrical properties of highly active IrOx catalysts for the electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction via spectroscopic ellipsometry N2 - Efficient water electrolysis requires highly active electrodes. The activity of corresponding catalytic coatings strongly depends on material properties such as film thickness, crystallinity, electrical conductivity, and chemical surface speciation. Measuring these properties with high accuracy in vacuum-free and nondestructive methods facilitates the elucidation of structure−activity relationships in realistic environments. Here, we report a novel approach to analyze the optical and electrical properties of highly active oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts via spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). Using a series of differently calcined, mesoporous, templated iridium oxide films as an example, we assess the film thickness, porosity, electrical resistivity, electron concentration, electron mobility, and interband and intraband transition energies by modeling of the optical spectra. Independently performed analyses using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, ellipsometric porosimetry, X-ray reflectometry, and absorption spectroscopy indicate a high accuracy of the deduced material properties. A comparison of the derived analytical data from SE, resonant photoemission spectroscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with activity measurements of the OER suggests that the intrinsic activity of iridium oxides scales with a shift of the Ir 5d t2g sub-level and an increase of p−d interband transition energies caused by a transition of μ1-OH to μ3-O species. KW - Spectroscopic ellipsometry KW - Electrocatalysis KW - Oxygen evolution reaction KW - Mesoporous iridium oxide films KW - Non-destructive ambient analysis KW - Intrinsic OER activity KW - Complementary methodology and metrology PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-516288 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.0c03800 SN - 2155-5435 VL - 10 IS - 23 SP - 14210 EP - 14223 PB - American Chemical Society AN - OPUS4-51628 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sachse, René A1 - Kotil, Leyla A1 - Matjacic, Lidija A1 - McMahon, Greg A1 - Bernicke, Michael A1 - Bernsmeier, Denis A1 - Kraehnert, Ralph A1 - Hertwig, Andreas A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - Morphological and Chemical Nanoscale Analysis of Mesoporous Mixed IrOx-TiOy Thin Films as Electrode Materials N2 - orous films play an important role particularly in energy applications like photovoltaics, electrolysis or batteries. Thin film properties such as thickness, chemical composition, crystallinity of the framework, and porosity define the activity of the porous films. The accurate morpho-chemical characterisation of mesoporous thin films is a challenging analytical task which requires the consideration of new analytical approaches based on the combination of data of different methods able to address the structure and chemical composition at the nanoscale. In this contribution we characterise thin mesoporous iridium-titanium mixed oxide film properties by Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA) with Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) at an SEM applied in a dedicated “thin film analysis” approach (1). Thus, the film mass deposition, film thickness and the film density can be determined. Further, by dividing the measured film density to an assumed (theoretical) metal oxide framework (skeletal) density, the thin film porosity can be extracted, too. In order to assess the homogeneity of the thin film properties like the chemical composition, Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and Auger Electron Spectrometry are applied in the depth profiling mode, so that possible in-depth gradients are detected. Lateral inhomogeneities in the chemical composition and structure of the thin mesoporous films are also identified by applying the same methods in the line-scan or mapping mode, which can be further combined with in-depth sputtering for 3D information. The role of the spatial resolution of the analytical methods considered, which can go down well below 100 nm, will be highlighted. KW - Mesoporous thin films KW - Imaging KW - TiO2 KW - Ir oxid KW - Auger electron spectroscopy KW - ToF-SIMS KW - SEM/EDX PY - 2024 DO - https://doi.org/10.1093/mam/ozae044.252 VL - 30 IS - Supplement 1 SP - 541 EP - 542 PB - Oxford University Press (OUP) AN - OPUS4-61185 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -