Exploring the Effect of Ball Milling on the Physicochemical Properties and Oxygen Evolution Reaction Activity of Nickel and Cobalt Oxides

Ball milling is commonly used to reduce catalyst particle size. However, little attention is paid to further changes that ball milling can cause to the rest of the catalysts' physicochemical properties, which can impact their intrinsic catalytic activity. The effect of ball milling on the physicochemical properties of NiCoO2, NiO, CoO, and NiO:CoO mixtures is reported and correlated with their electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity. It is also shown that particle fragmentation is an inherent consequence of ball milling, but some oxides can also experience a phase transformation. In the case of rocksalt-structured CoO, it is partially or entirely transformed to spinel-structured Co3O4. Additionally, NiCo2O4 with a spinel structure can be formed by ball milling NiO and CoO simultaneously (both rocksalt structures), but only in the absence of water. The changes impact the electrochemical activity of the initial oxides. Ball milled NiCoO2 exhibits the highest activity with a mean potential of 1.563 V at 10 mA cm-2, demonstrating the advantage of having Ni and Co in the same structure. Although NiCo2O4 is also a binary oxide, the results indicate that its metal coordination environment makes it intrinsically less active than NiCoO2 for the OER in alkaline media. Ball milling of powder catalysts is not just a tool for reducing particle size, it can also cause critical chemical changes that impact their catalytic performance. Water, as an additive agent, additionally influences such changes. Understanding these processes and their impact on electrochemical performance is crucial for the correct evaluation of electrocatalysts.image (c) 2024 WILEY-VCH GmbH