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Australian Journal of Chemistry Australian Journal of Chemistry Society
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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Engineering Disorder at a Nanoscale: A Combined TEM and XAS Investigation of Amorphous versus Nanocrystalline Sodium Birnessite

Rosalie K. Hocking A E , Hannah J. King A , Aimee Hesson A , Shannon A. Bonke B , Bernt Johannessen C , Monika Fekete B , Leone Spiccia B and Shery L. Y. Chang D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Matter and Materials Group (Chemical Sciences), College of Science, Technology and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia.

B School of Chemistry and Australian Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, Monash University, Clayton, Vic. 3800, Australia.

C Australian Synchrotron, 800 Blackburn Road, Clayton, Vic. 3168, Australia.

D LeRoy Eryring Centre for Solid State Science, Arizona State University, Palm Walk, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.

E Corresponding author. Email: rosalie.hocking@jcu.edu.au

Australian Journal of Chemistry 68(11) 1715-1722 https://doi.org/10.1071/CH15412
Submitted: 8 July 2015  Accepted: 13 August 2015   Published: 7 September 2015

Abstract

The term amorphous metal oxide is becoming widely used in the catalysis community. The term is generally used when there are no apparent peaks in an X-ray diffraction pattern. However, the absence of such features in X-ray diffraction can mean that the material is either truly amorphous or that it is better described as nanocrystalline. By coprecipitating a sodium birnessite-like phase with and without phosphate (1.5 %), we are able to engineer two very similar but distinct materials – one that is nanocrystalline and the other that is amorphous. The two closely related phases were characterized with both Mn K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. These structural results were then correlated with catalytic and electrocatalytic activities for water oxidation catalysis. In this case, the amorphous phosphate-doped material was less catalytically active than the nanocrystalline material.


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