Print Email Facebook Twitter Polymer Modification of Surface Electronic Properties of Electrocatalysts Title Polymer Modification of Surface Electronic Properties of Electrocatalysts Author Venugopal, A. (TU Delft ChemE/Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage) Egberts, Laurentius H.T. (Student TU Delft) Meeprasert, J. (TU Delft ChemE/Inorganic Systems Engineering) Pidko, E.A. (TU Delft ChemE/Inorganic Systems Engineering) Dam, B. (TU Delft ChemE/Chemical Engineering) Burdyny, T.E. (TU Delft ChemE/Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage) Sinha, V. (TU Delft ChemE/Inorganic Systems Engineering) Smith, W.A. (TU Delft ChemE/Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage; University of Colorado) Department ChemE/Chemical Engineering Date 2022 Abstract Finding alternative ways to tailor the electronic properties of a catalyst to actively and selectively drive reactions of interest has been a growing research topic in the field of electrochemistry. In this Letter, we investigate the tuning of the surface electronic properties of electrocatalysts via polymer modification. We show that when a nickel oxide water oxidation catalyst is coated with polytetrafluoroethylene, stable Ni-CFx bonds are introduced at the nickel oxide/polymer interface, resulting in shifting of the reaction selectivity away from the oxygen evolution reaction and toward hydrogen peroxide formation. It is shown that the electron-withdrawing character of the surface fluorocarbon molecule leaves a slight positive charge on the water oxidation intermediates at the adjacent active nickel sites, making their bonds weaker. The concept of modifying the surface electronic properties of an electrocatalyst via stable polymer modification offers an additional route to tune multipathway reactions in polymer/electrocatalyst environments, like with ionomer-modified catalysts or with membrane electrode assemblies. To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:c591ede8-e74a-45ff-b997-0f7a2267725b DOI https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.2c00199 ISSN 2380-8195 Source ACS Energy Letters, 7, 1586-1593 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2022 A. Venugopal, Laurentius H.T. Egberts, J. Meeprasert, E.A. Pidko, B. Dam, T.E. Burdyny, V. Sinha, W.A. Smith Files PDF acsenergylett.2c00199.pdf 3.71 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:c591ede8-e74a-45ff-b997-0f7a2267725b/datastream/OBJ/view