Characteristics of the voltammetric behavior of the hydroxide ion oxidation at disordered mesoporous titanium dioxide electrocatalyst

Abstract

The alkaline water electrochemical splitting reactions need economical, very energetic, and durable catalysts. Here, a disordered mesoporous and highly defected titanium dioxide (dom-TiO2) electrocatalyst for the oxidation of hydroxide ion was prepared via ligand-assisted evaporation-induced self-assembly. The (dom-TiO2) electrocatalyst showed significant electrocatalytic performance for the oxidation of hydroxide ion compared to that of non-porous TiO2 (bare-TiO2) and highly-ordered hexagonal mesoporous (hm-TiO2) electrodes. The chemical and electrochemical parameters of the diffusion (D), concentration in the bulk (Cb), the number of transferred electrons (n), rate constant of heterogeneous electron transfer (ks), redox potential (E°), and homogeneous chemical rate constant (kc) for the oxidation of hydroxide ion reaction at the porous TiO2 electrodes were determined via the convolution–deconvolution voltammetry and competed against that of non-porous (bare-TiO2) and hm-TiO2 and catalysts. In addition to the effect of dom-TiO2 film thickness and the type of supporting electrolytes on the electrochemical parameters of the electrocatalytic oxidation of OH– ions have been estimated. The convolutive–deconvoluted results show that the dom-TiO2 electrode catalyst exhibits a superior reaction rate constant among the studied electrodes that depend on the film thickness and type of supporting electrolyte.