Enhancement of Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution by Chiral Molecular Functionalization of Hybrid 2D Electrodes

19 October 2021, Version 1
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

A sustainable future requires highly efficient energy conversion and storage processes, where electrocatalysis plays a crucial role. The activity of an electrocatalyst is governed by the binding energy towards the reaction intermediates, while the scaling relationships prevent the improvement of a catalytic system over its volcano-plot limits. To overcome these limitations, unconventional methods that are not fully determined by the surface binding energy can be helpful. Here, we use organic chiral molecules, i.e., hetero-helicenes, to boost the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) by ca. 131.5 % (at the potential of 1.65 V vs. RHE) at state-of-the-art 2D catalysts via a spin-polarization mechanism. Our results show that chiral molecule-functionalization is able to increase the OER activity of catalysts beyond the volcano limits. A guideline for optimizing the catalytic activity via chiral molecular functionalization of hybrid 2D electrodes is given.

Keywords

electrocatalysis
Chiral molecular functionalization
Hybrid 2D electrode
spin polarization
Activity enhancement
Oxygen evolution reaction

Supplementary materials

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Title
Supplementary information: Enhancement of Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution by Chiral Molecular Functionalization of Hybrid 2D Electrodes
Description
Additional electrochemical measurements, STM images, and synthesis procedure of helicene molecules including the reaction scheme, full experimental details, characterization, chiral HPLC separation and X-ray diffraction analysis details.
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