Intermittent renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, will only be viable if the electrical energy can be stored efficiently. It is possible to store electrical energy cleanly by splitting the water into oxygen (a clean byproduct) and hydrogen (an energy dense fuel) via water electrolysis. The efficiency of hydrogen production is limited, in part, by the high kinetic overpotential of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). OER catalysts have been extensively studied for the last several decades. However, no new highly active catalyst has been developed in decades. One reason that breakthroughs in this research are limited is because there have been many conflicting activity trends. Without a clear understanding of intrinsic catalyst activity it is difficult to identify what makes catalysts active and design accordingly. To find commercially viable catalysts it is imperative that electrochemical activity studies consider and define the catalyst’s morphology, loading, conductivity, composition, and structure. The research goal of this dissertation is twofold and encompasses 1) fundamentally understanding how catalysis is occurring and 2) designing and developing a highly active, abundant, and stable OER catalyst to increase the efficiency of the OER. Specifically, this dissertation focuses on developing methods to compare catalyst materials (Chapter II), understanding the structure-compositional relationships that make Co-Fe (oxy)hydroxide materials active (Chapter III), re-defining activity trends of first row transition metal (oxy)hydroxide materials (Chapter IV), and studying the role of local geometric structure on active sites in Ni-Fe (oxy)hydroxides (Chapter V). As part of a collaboration with Proton OnSite, the catalysts studied are to be integrated into an anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer in the future. This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished co-authored material. / 10000-01-01

Ce travail de thèse a appréhendé les mécanismes de stockage/libération, d’un point de vue élémentaire et isotopique, du calcium (Ca) et du strontium (Sr) sur ou dans des phases minérales communes des sols (minéraux primaires, minéraux argileux, oxy-hydroxydes, carbonate pédogénétiques). Une méthode de mesure robuste du δ88Sr a dû être développée et validée par la mesure de matériaux de références internationaux, pour la plupart jamais mesuré dans la littérature. Les résultats montrent que l’adsorption du Ca sur des minéraux phyllosilicatés génère un fractionnement isotopique par prélèvement préférentiel de l’isotope léger (40Ca) dans nos conditions expérimentales lorsque les minéraux possèdent une charge structurale et une surface spécifique importante et/ou un espace interfoliaire ouvert à l’adsorption de cations hydratés. Une étude sur des rhizolithes en milieu naturel a mis en avant que l’utilisation des isotopes du Ca et du Sr permet un traçage de source et de mécanismes efficaces dans les thématiques touchant au stockage de ces deux éléments dans les sols. / This PhD thesis examined the mechanisms of storage and release, from and elementary and isotopically point of view, of calcium (Ca) and strontium (Sr) onto or into mineral phases commonly encountered within soils (primary minerals, clay minerals, oxy-hydroxides, pedogenic carbonate). A robust δ88Sr measurements method had to be developed in the laboratory and validated by the measurement of international reference materials, mostly never measured in the literature. The results of this work show that Ca adsorption onto phyllosilicate minerals generates a quantifiable isotopic fractionation by preferential uptake of the light isotope (40Ca) under our experimental conditions when the minerals have a significant structural charge and specific surface area and/or an interlayer space open to hydrated cations adsorption. A study on rhizoliths in natural environment has also highlighted that the combination of Ca and Sr isotopes allows an effective tracing of sources and mechanisms in the problematic related to the storage of these two elements within soils.