title: Nickel Confined in the Interlayer Region of Birnessite: an Active Electrocatalyst for Water Oxidation.
abstract: We report a synthetic method to enhance the electrocatalytic activity of birnessite for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) by intercalating Ni(2+) ions into the interlayer region. Electrocatalytic studies showed that nickel (7.7 atomic %)-intercalated birnessite exhibits an overpotential (η) of 400 mV for OER at an anodic current of 10 mA cm(-2) . This η is significantly lower than the η values for birnessite (η≈700 mV) and the active OER catalyst β-Ni(OH)2 (η≈550 mV). Molecular dynamics simulations suggest that a competition among the interactions between the nickel cation, water, and birnessite promote redox chemistry in the spatially confined interlayer region.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.|Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials (CCDM), USA.
authors.forename: Akila C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Thenuwara
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Cerkez
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.|Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials (CCDM), USA.
authors.forename: Samantha L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Shumlas
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.|Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials (CCDM), USA.
authors.forename: Nuwan H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Attanayake
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.|Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials (CCDM), USA.
authors.forename: Ian G
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: McKendry
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.|Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials (CCDM), USA.|School of Chemistry, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia.
authors.forename: Laszlo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Frazer
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.|Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials (CCDM), USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Borguet
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.|Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials (CCDM), USA.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.|Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials (CCDM), USA.|Institute for Computational Molecular Science, Temple University, 1925 N. 12thSt, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.
authors.forename: Richard C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Remsing
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.|Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials (CCDM), USA.|Institute for Computational Molecular Science, Temple University, 1925 N. 12thSt, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.|Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials (CCDM), USA.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Zdilla
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA. dstrongi@temple.edu.|Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials (CCDM), USA. dstrongi@temple.edu.
authors.forename: Daniel R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Strongin
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D055664:Electrochemical Techniques; D009532:Nickel / Q000737:chemistry*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D009532:Nickel; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: birnessite; electrochemistry; nickel intercalation; oxygen evolution reaction; water splitting