Paper

{
  "raw_xml": "<entry>\n    <id>http://arxiv.org/abs/2603.17904v1</id>\n    <title>Mechanistic Insights into Enhanced Alkaline Oxygen Evolution on Zn-Al Alloy Electrodes</title>\n    <updated>2026-03-18T16:38:42Z</updated>\n    <link href='https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.17904v1' rel='alternate' type='text/html'/>\n    <link href='https://arxiv.org/pdf/2603.17904v1' rel='related' title='pdf' type='application/pdf'/>\n    <summary>Electrochemical water electrolysis, which produces clean energy carriers to mitigate carbon emissions, lacks suitable, low-cost electrodes for efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline water splitting. To address this challenge, we developed Zn-Al alloy electrodes with varying Al contents up to 20 wt.% via powder metallurgy method and conducted electrochemical measurements of the OER in alkaline solution to investigate their catalytic performance. We also performed first-principles calculations to examine their thermodynamic phase stability and electronic structures. Both theoretical and experimental results indicated that incorporating $\\geq 20$ wt.% Al into Zn led to thermodynamic phase instability and secondary-phase segregation in Al-rich regions, limiting reaction kinetics and reducing catalytic efficiency. Although the Al content of 5 wt.% into Zn exhibited favorable thermodynamic and electronic characteristics, but its electrochemical performance was inefficient and poor due to inadequate reaction active sites on the surface. In contrast, the 10 wt.% and 15 wt.% Al into Zn showed approximately three- and two-fold increases in anodic exchange current density relative to pure Zn, respectively. Additionally, the anodic overpotential losses ($η_{0,a}$) measured at a current density of 12 mAcm$^{-2}$ were 0.240 V for Zn$_{0.9}$Al$_{0.1}$ and 0.5603 V for Zn$_{0.85}$Al$_{0.15}$, significantly lower than that of pure Zn ($η_{0,a} = 1.086$ V). While Zn$_{0.9}$Al$_{0.1}$ and Zn$_{0.85}$Al$_{0.15}$ showed similar charge transfer resistance ($R_{\\rm CT}$), Zn$_{0.9}$Al$_{0.1}$ demonstrated superior reaction kinetics and lower $η_{0,a}$ across all samples tested. Furthermore, the improved kinetics and reduced overpotential of the Zn-Al alloys favorably compare with those of other transition-metal-based catalysts, including Fe-Co-Ni-Mo alloys and Fe-doped CuO.</summary>\n    <category scheme='http://arxiv.org/schemas/atom' term='cond-mat.mtrl-sci'/>\n    <category scheme='http://arxiv.org/schemas/atom' term='physics.chem-ph'/>\n    <published>2026-03-18T16:38:42Z</published>\n    <arxiv:primary_category term='cond-mat.mtrl-sci'/>\n    <author>\n      <name>Abdul Ahad Mamun</name>\n    </author>\n    <author>\n      <name>Rokon Uddin Mahmud</name>\n    </author>\n    <author>\n      <name>Shahin Aziz</name>\n    </author>\n    <author>\n      <name>Muhammad Shahriar Bashar</name>\n    </author>\n    <author>\n      <name>Ahmed Sharif</name>\n    </author>\n    <author>\n      <name>Muhammad Anisuzzaman Talukder</name>\n    </author>\n  </entry>"
}