Sol-Gel법을 이용한 CuxCo3-xO4 산소 발생 촉매의 합성 및 전기화학 특성 분석

Transition metal oxide is widely used as a water electrolysis catalyst to substitute for a noble metal catalyst such as IrO2 and RuO2. In this study, the sol-gel method is used to synthesize the CuxCo3-xO4 catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The CuxCo3-xO4 is synthesized at various calcination temperatures from 250 oC to 400 oC for 4 h. The CuxCo3- xO4 synthesized at 300 oC has a perfect spinel structure without residues of the precursor and secondary phases, such as CuO. The particle size of CuxCo3-xO4 increases with an increase in calcination temperature. Amongst all the samples studied, CuxCo3- xO4, which is synthesized at 300?, has the highest activity for the OER. Its onset potential for the OER is 370 mV and the overpotential at 10 mA/cm2 is 438 mV. The tafel slope of CuxCo3-xO4 synthesized at 300 oC has a low value of 58 mV/dec. These results are mainly explained by the increase in the available active surface area of the CuxCo3-xO4 catalyst.