Manganese-based Oxides as Stable Water and Methanol Electrochemical Oxidation Catalysts for Hydrogen Production

Abstract

Manganese-based oxides have emerged as promising catalysts for electrooxidation reactions, such as water and organic molecules oxidation for green hydrogen generation. Due to their redox properties, especially in higheroxidation states (Mn(IV) or even Mn(VII)), exhibit excellent catalytic activity foroxidation. Additionally, manganese oxides present unique stability in acid electrolytes.However, their stability is limited to a short potential window, and this hinders theirapplication in practical devices. Manganese Antimonates have exhibited improvedstability, which allows them to reach higher current density for electrochemicaloxidation of water and/or organic fuels, such as methanol and formic acid. Nevertheless,the fundamental understanding of the mechanism of water or methanol on manganese-based oxides is missing, this being crucial for the development of more efficient,sustainable, and cost-competitive electrolyzers. Therefore, the objective of this project is tostudy the mechanism or reaction pathway of methanol, and formic acid electrooxidation on puremanganese oxide and manganese antimonate in acidic electrolyte employing in situinfrared spectroscopy.