Research on Oxygen-Evolving Electrode Materials for High Efficiency and Power Saving in Electrolytic Smelting

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18H03835
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 26:Materials engineering and related fields
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Yagi Shunsuke 東京大学, 生産技術研究所, 准教授 (60452273)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 山田 幾也 大阪府立大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (30378880) ; 池野 豪一 大阪府立大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (30584833)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 電気化学触媒 / ルテニウム酸化物 / 酸素発生反応 / 酸性水溶液 / 金属空気二次電池

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we proposed new Ru-based oxide catalysts, which are stable in acidic aqueous solution and active in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), for the application in zinc electrolytic smelting or other applications. Although many oxides are unstable and dissolve in acidic aqueous solutions, this study revealed that precious metal oxides, especially those containing Ru or Ir as a component, exhibit relatively high stability and activity. Based on this result, we focused our investigation on oxides containing Ru, which is cheaper than Ir, and found that the quadruple perovskite oxides ACu3Ru4O12 (A=Ca, Sr, La, Ce, Nd) have higher activities and stabilities than those of the simple perovskite oxides Sr1-xBaxRuO3.

Free Research Field

材料電気化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究により，亜鉛の電解製錬などの工業電解プロセスのさらなる高効率化，省電力化を実現することが可能な，新しい酸素発生触媒の設計指針を提案するなど，社会的に意義のある成果が得られた．特に，酸性水溶液中において比較的安定で，酸素発生反応に対して活性を有するRuを含有する酸化物に注目し，その構造・成分およびRu-O原子間距離と，活性および安定性の関係を系統的に議論し，学術的観点からも有用な知見を得ることができた．