Defective titanium dioxide single crystals exposed by high-energy {001} facets for efficient oxygen reduction.
The cathodic material plays an essential role in oxygen reduction reaction for energy conversion and storage systems. Titanium dioxide, as a semiconductor material, is usually not recognized as an efficient oxygen reduction electrocatalyst owning to its low conductivity and poor reactivity. Here we demonstrate that nano-structured titanium dioxide, self-doped by oxygen vacancies and selectively exposed with the high-energy {001} facets, exhibits a surprisingly competitive oxygen reduction activity, excellent durability and superior tolerance to methanol. Combining the electrochemical tests with density-functional calculations, we elucidate the defect-centred oxygen reduction reaction mechanism for the superiority of the reductive {001}-TiO2-x nanocrystals. Our findings may provide an opportunity to develop a simple, efficient, cost-effective and promising catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction in energy conversion and storage technologies.
CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutants Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
Dan-Ni
DN
Pei
CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutants Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
Li
L
Gong
CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutants Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.|Department of Municipal Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China.
Ai-Yong
AY
Zhang
CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutants Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
Xing
X
Zhang
CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutants Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
Jie-Jie
JJ
Chen
CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutants Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
Yang
Y
Mu
CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutants Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
Han-Qing
HQ
Yu