Metal-organic framework-derived Co nanoparticles and single atoms as efficient electrocatalyst for pH universal hydrogen evolution reaction

Hydrogen release through water splitting is essential for reducing carbon emissions and promoting the hydrogen economy. One of the crucial challenges for industrial applications of water electrolysis is the manufacture of electrocatalysts which can reduce the kinetic energy barrier of the hydrogen e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nano research 2022-09, Vol.15 (9), p.7917-7924
Main Authors: Jiang, Rui, Li, Qian, Zheng, Xue, Wang, Weizhe, Wang, Shuangbao, Xu, Zhimou, Wu, Jiabin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atomic/Molecular Structure and Spectra
Biomedicine
Biotechnology
Carbon
Chemistry and Materials Science
Condensed Matter Physics
Density functional theory
Electrocatalysts
Electrochemistry
Electrolysis
Emissions
Hydrogen
Hydrogen evolution reactions
Hydrogen-based energy
Industrial applications
Kinetic energy
Materials Science
Metal-organic frameworks
Nanocatalysis
Nanoparticles
Nanotechnology
Research Article
Shielding
Sulfuric acid
Synergistic effect
Transition metals
Water splitting
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Summary:Hydrogen release through water splitting is essential for reducing carbon emissions and promoting the hydrogen economy. One of the crucial challenges for industrial applications of water electrolysis is the manufacture of electrocatalysts which can reduce the kinetic energy barrier of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Loading transition metal (TM) nanoparticles (NPs) or single atoms (SAs) into heteroatom-doped carbon materials (HCMs) is an effective method to improve electrochemical activity and stability. To this end, we synthesized N-doped porous carbon (NC) encapsulated Co NPs and isolated Co SA nanocatalysts (denoted as Co NPs@SAs-NC) using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as sacrificial precursors. The Co NPs@SAs-NC nanocatalysts displayed outstanding HER activity with a 110 mV overpotential in 1 M KOH, 47 mV overpotential in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 and 171 mV in 0.5 M phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) to reach a current density of 10 mA·cm −2 . In addition, the mechanism of the synergistic effect of Co NPs, Co SAs and N species was investigated in-depth using in situ shielding experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations.
ISSN:1998-0124
1998-0000
DOI:10.1007/s12274-022-4448-6