TY - JOUR A1 - Mirabella, Francesca A1 - Müllner, M. A1 - Touzalin, T. A1 - Riva, M. A1 - Jakub, Z. A1 - Kraushofer, F. A1 - Schmid, M. A1 - Koper, M. T. M. A1 - Parkinson, G. S. A1 - Diebold, U. T1 - Ni-modified Fe3O4(001) surface as a simple model system for understanding the oxygen evolution reaction N2 - Electrochemical water splitting is an environmentally friendly technology to store renewable energy in the form of chemical fuels. Among the earth-abundant first-row transition metal-based catalysts, mixed Ni-Fe oxides have shown promising performance for effective and low-cost catalysis of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline media, but the synergistic roles of Fe and Ni cations in the OER mechanism remain unclear. In this work, we report how addition of Ni changes the reactivity of a model iron oxide catalyst, based on Ni deposited on and incorporated in a magnetite Fe3O4(001) single crystal, using a combination of surface science techniques in ultra-high vacuum such as low energy electron diffraction (LEED), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), low-energy ion scattering (LEIS), and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), as well as atomic force microscopy (AFM) in air, and electrochemical Methods such as cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in alkaline media. A significant improvement in the OER activity is observed when the top surface presents an iron fraction among the cations in the range of 20-40%, which is in good agreement with what has been observed for powder catalysts. Furthermore, a decrease in the OER overpotential is observed following surface aging in electrolyte for three days. At higher Ni load, AFM shows the growth of a new phase attributed to an (oxy)-hydroxide phase which, according to CV measurements, does not seem to correlate with the surface activity towards OER. EIS suggests that the OER precursor species observed on the clean and Ni-modified surfaces are similar and Fe-centered, but form at lower overpotentials when the surface Fe:Ni ratio is optimized. We propose that the well-defined Fe3O4(001) surface can serve as a model System for understanding the OER mechanism and establishing the structure-reactivity relation on mixed Fe-Ni oxides. KW - OER KW - Fe-Ni oxides KW - Surface science KW - Electrochemistry KW - Water splitting PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-529231 UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013468621009282?via%3Dihub DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2021.138638 VL - 389 SP - 138638 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-52923 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Müllner, S. A1 - Held, T. A1 - Tichter, Tim A1 - Rank, P. A1 - Leykam, D. A1 - Jiang, W. A1 - Lunkenbein, T. A1 - Gerdes, T. A1 - Roth, C. T1 - Impact of Functional Groups in Reduced Graphene Oxide Matrices for High Energy Anodes in Lithium-Ion Batteries N2 - Most high capacity anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LiB) require a carbonaceous matrix. In this context one promising material is reduced graphene oxide (rGO). Herein, we present the influence of different reduction degrees of rGO on its physico-chemical properties, such as crystallinity, specific surface area, electrical conductivity and electrochemical lithiation/delithiation behavior. It is found that a heat treatment under inert and reducing atmospheres increases the long-range order of rGO up to a temperature of 700 °C. At temperatures around 1000 °C, the crystallinity decreases. With decreasing oxygen content, a linear decrease in irreversible capacity during cycle 1 can be observed, along with a significant increase in electrical conductivity. This decrease in irreversible capacity can be observed despite an increase in specific surface area indicating the more significant influence of the oxygen content on the capacity loss. Consequently, the reversible capacity increases continuously up to a carbon content of 84.4 at% due to the thermal reduction. Contrary to expectations, the capacity decreases with further reduction. This can be explained by the loss of functional groups that will be lithiated reversibly, and a simultaneous reduction of long-range order, as concluded from dq/dU analysis in combination with XRD analysis. KW - Batteries KW - Functional Materials KW - Graphene Oxide PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-606852 DO - https://doi.org/10.1149/1945-7111/ace70a SN - 0013-4651 VL - 170 IS - 7 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - The Electrochemical Society AN - OPUS4-60685 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -