Enhancing the oxygen evolution reaction performance of CuCo based hydroxides with V2CTx MXene

Bastian Schmiedecke^a, Michelle Browne^a, Bing Wu^b, Thorsten Schulz^c^,^d, Norbert Koch^c^,^d, Namrata Sharma^e, Tristan Petit^e, Valeria Nicolosi^f, Mehmet Görüryılmaz^a, Apostolos Koutsioukis^f, Aline Emerenciano^a, Danielle Dougla-Henry^f, Zdenek Sofer^b

^aHelmholtz Young Investigator Group Electrocatalysis: Synthesis to Devices, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Albert-Einstein-Str. 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany

^bDepartment of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, Technická 5, 166 28 Prague 6, Czech Republic

^cHelmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Berlin, Germany

^dInstitut für Physik & IRIS Adlershof, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

^eYoung Investigator Group Nanoscale Solid–Liquid Interfaces, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Albert-Einstein-Str. 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany

^fSchool of Chemistry, CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin D02 PN40, Ireland

Materials for Sustainable Development Conference (MATSUS)
Proceedings of MATSUS Spring 2025 Conference (MATSUSSpring25)

Nano Exploration of MXenes 2025 - #NEMX25

Sevilla, Spain, 2025 March 3rd - 7th

Organizers: Michelle Browne, Rui Gusmão and Bahareh Khezri

Oral, Bastian Schmiedecke, presentation 001
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.matsusspring.2025.001
Publication date: 16th December 2024

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is critical for water electrolysis, a key technology for the production of green hydrogen. While non-noble metal oxides show promise as OER catalysts, their application is limited by poor conductivity and stability.[1] This study demonstrates the functionalization of CuCo based hydroxides with V₂CT_x MXene to address these challenges, resulting in significantly improved OER performance in alkaline media.[2]
The CuCo@V₂CT_x composites were synthesized via a hydrothermal process, with varying MXene content (1%, 10%, 25%, 50%). The optimized CC50 catalyst achieved a lower overpotential and superior stability, outperforming the pure Co and CuCo hydroxides. Post-mortem analyses, including XPS and ICP-OES, revealed that the MXene not only enhanced hydrophilicity and charge transfer properties but also reduced Cu leaching during OER, improving the overall stability.
Characterization using SEM/TEM/EDX, XRD, and XPS confirmed that MXene mitigates aggregation and stabilizes CuCo on the electrode surface. Furthermore, the preferential leaching of V₂CT_x over Cu during stability tests preserved a higher concentration of active CuCo species, contributing to long-term catalytic performance. This work highlights the potential of MXene based hybrids as high-performance electrocatalysts for sustainable energy applications.

References:

[1] Browne, M. P.; Tyndall, D.; Nicolosi, V. The potential of MXene materials as a component in the catalyst layer for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction. Current Opinion in Electrochemistry 2022, 34: 101021.

[2] Schmiedecke B.; Wu B.; Schultz, T.; Emerenciano, A. A.; Sharma, N.; Douglas-Henry, D. A.; Koutsioukis, A.; Görüryılmaz, M. T.; Nicolosi, V.; Petit, T.; Koch, N.; Sofer, Z.; Browne, M. P. J. Mater. Chem. A, 2024,12, 24248-24259

Acknowledgements:

We acknowledge the Helmholtz Association's Initiative and Networking Fund (Helmholtz Young Investigator Group VH-NG-1719) for the funding. MB acknowledges support from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in the framework of the project Catlab (03EW0015A/B) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's Excellence Strategy – EXC 2008 – 390540038 UniSysCat. VN wishes to acknowledge funding from the European Research Council (CoG 3D2Dprint, GA 681544), Science Foundation Ireland (12/RC/2278_P2 and 16/RC/3872_P2, Frontiers for the Future 20/FFP-A/8950), and HORIZON-RIA 101091572 GREENCAP. Furthermore, VN and AK wish to thank the support of the EIC Pathfinder ThermoDust project (project number 101046835). DDH would like to thank the SFI-funded CRANN Advanced Microscopy Laboratory (AML) for the provision of their facilities for the electron microscopy characterization and analysis. ZS was supported by ERC-CZ program (project LL2101) from Ministry of Education Youth and Sports (MEYS) and used large infrastructure from project Advanced Functional Nanorobots (reg. No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000444 financed by the EFRR). NS and TP acknowledge funding from the European Research Council (NANOMXM, GA 947852). We thank S. Wintz and M. Weigand for their technical support at the MAXYMUS beamline. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

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