Fabrication of iridium oxide nanoparticles supported on activated carbon powder by flashlight irradiation for oxygen evolutions

Iridium supported on activated carbon was oxidized by flashlight irradiation at room temperature in ambient condition. •Ir was oxidized by flashlight irradiation at room temperature in ambient condition.•The Pt–IrO2/C has a higher net current density than those of Pt–Ir/C and Pt/C.•During the flashlight process, an activated carbon was not damaged.•Flashlight irradiation purified an activated carbon by removing contaminants. In this study, iridium oxide (IrO2) nanoparticles supported on activated carbon were fabricated for oxygen evolutions using a flashlight irradiation process at room temperature under ambient conditions within a few milliseconds. The fabricated IrO2 nanoparticles were decorated on the activated carbon surface and enlarged to 3.51nm as average diameter from an initial value of 1.54nm. The fabricated IrO2 nanoparticles were characterized using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) for the oxygen evolution reaction.