Heazlewoodite, Ni[subscript 3]S[subscript 2]: A Potent Catalyst for Oxygen Reduction to Water under Benign Conditions

• Main Authors: Falkowski, Joseph (Contributor), Concannon, Nolan M. (Contributor), Yan, Bing (Contributor), Surendranath, Yogesh (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemistry (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society (ACS), 2016-08-16T14:21:52Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

Electrodeposited thin films and nanoparticles of Ni[subscript 3]S[subscript 2] are highly active, poison- and corrosion-resistant catalysts for oxygen reduction to water at neutral pH. In pH 7 phosphate buffer, Ni[subscript 3]S[subscript 2] displays catalytic onset at 0.8 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode, a Tafel slope of 109 mV decade[superscript -1], and high faradaic efficiency for four-electron reduction of O[subscript 2] to water. Under these conditions, the activity and stability of Ni[subscript 3]S[subscript 2] exceeds that of polycrystalline platinum and manganese, nickel, and cobalt oxides, illustrating the catalytic potential of pairing labile first-row transition metal active sites with a more covalent sulfide host lattice.
National Science Foundation (U.S.) (MIT MRSEC Program, award number DMR-0819762)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemistry (Junior Faculty Funds)
MIT Energy Initiative (NSF award CHE-1454060)