The evaluation of the long-term stability of α-MnO2 based OER electrocatalyst in neutral medium by using data processing approach

Abstract

alpha-MnO2 has attracted specific interest as one of the most promising candidates for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) electrocatalyst owing to its low-cost, non-toxicity, earth-abundancy and high activity/stability properties. Long-term operating stability and activity of candidate electrocatalysts are important parameters for evaluating their commercial potential. However, long-term stability and activity parameters in electrocatalysis depend on various chemical factors (such as pH, composition and oxidation state of catalyst, etc.) and physical factors (such as particle size, morphology, conductivity, etc.). It is extremely difficult to evaluate and estimate which factor dominates the electrocatalytic stability, because electrocatalytic reactions occur via multistep processes, which contain chemical, electrochemical and mechanical treatments. In addition to advanced research methods that can provide accurate information about electrochemical systems, it is essential to develop data analysis methods in order to make significant progress. A new and powerful systematic approach is needed to determine the long-term stability of active and stable electrocatalysts. In this study, in order to evaluate and estimate to long term stability and activation loss of electrocatalysts, we propose data processing approach using a typical electrochemical measurement. A scientific software tool based on C++; ROOT, was used for the analysis and visualisation of data processing. Various statistical and mathematical functions are well integrated into the framework and this allows to operate data with a few simple commands. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.