Co2FeO4@rGO composite: Towards trifunctional water splitting in alkaline media

Development of efficient, low cost and multifunctional electrocatalysts for water splitting to harvest hydrogen fuels is a challenging task, but the combination of carbon materials with transition metal-based compounds is providing a unique and attractive strategy. Herein, composite systems based on cobalt ferrite oxide-reduced graphene oxide (Co₂FeO₄) @(rGO) using simultaneous hydrothermal and chemical reduction methods have been prepared. The proposed study eliminates one step associated with the conversion of GO into rGO as it uses direct GO during the synthesis of cobalt ferrite oxide, consequently rGO based hybrid system is achieved in-situ significantly, the optimized Co₂FeO₄@rGO composite has revealed an outstanding multifunctional applications related to both oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen counterpart (HER). Various metal oxidation states and oxygen vacancies at the surface of Co₂FeO₄@rGO composites guided the multifunctional surface properties. The optimized Co₂FeO₄@rGO composite presents excellent multifunctional properties with onset potential of 0.60 V for ORR, an overpotential of 240 mV at a 20 mAcm^?2 for OER and 320 mV at a 10 mAcm^?2 for HER respectively. Results revealed that these multifunctional properties of the optimized Co₂FeO₄@ rGO composite are associated with high electrical conductivity, high density of active sites, crystal defects, oxygen vacancies, and favorable electronic structure arisinng from the substitution of Fe for Co atoms in binary spinel oxide phase. These surface features synergistically uplifted the electrocatalytic properties of Co₂FeO₄@rGO composites. The multifunctional properties of the Co₂FeO₄@ rGO composite could be of high interest for its use in a wide range of applications in sustainable and renewable energy fields.     

光化学法制备过渡金属-氮共掺杂多孔炭基CO2电还原催化剂

过渡金属-氮共掺杂炭材料是一类高效的CO₂电还原催化剂。以热解聚合物制备的氮掺杂炭材料为载体,浸渍镍源,经红外灯光照2 h,利用光化学法制备了高分散的镍-氮-碳催化剂（Ni/NC）。采用扫描电镜（SEM）、物理吸附、粉末X射线衍射（XRD）、X射线光电子能谱（XPS）等手段对催化剂的形貌、结构、物相和组成进行了分析,并评价了催化剂的CO₂电还原反应性能。电化学性能测试结果表明,在0.5 mol/L的KHCO₃电解液中,镍的负载量为2 %（质量分数）时催化性能最好,CO分电流密度得到有效提升,塔菲尔斜率为492 mV/dec,起始过电位为286 mV;在-0.6 V（vs.RHE）下,CO的法拉第效率为78%,在-1.0 ~-0.5 V（vs.RHE）内,n（CO）/n（H₂）=0.5~3.6。     

直接硼氢化物燃料电池阳极电催化剂研究进展

以硼氢化物作为燃料电池的燃料因其高的理论电动势和比能量而引起研究者的广泛关注。理论上，BH-4的电氧化反应为八电子反应，但实际上由于所用阳极电催化剂的不同，BH-4电氧化释放出的电子数也不同。如何抑制BH-4在阳极的水解反应，促进其八电子氧化反应一直是直接硼氢化物燃料电池研究中的核心问题。综述了近几年来国内外在直接硼氢化物燃料电池阳极电催化剂方面所取得的研究进展，并对这一领域中需要深入研究的主要问题进行了论述。     

Enhancement of the electrooxidation of ethanol on a Pt–PEM electrode modified by tin. Part I: Half cell study

The direct platinisation of a solid polymer electrolyte (Nafion^® membrane) was realized by chemical reduction of a platinum salt. The Pt–PEM electrodes thus obtained were modified by tin to improve the electrocatalytic activity towards the electrooxidation of ethanol. The Pt–PEM and Pt–Sn–PEM electrodes were characterized by TEM, EDX and XRD analysis, cyclic voltammetry, and their polarisation curves for the electrooxidation of ethanol were determined under quasisteady state conditions.     

A study of PtRuO2 catalysts thermally formed on titanium mesh for methanol oxidation

Platinum-based catalysts, for the electro-oxidation of methanol, have been made by thermal decomposition of chloride precursors onto titanium mesh. The catalysed electrodes were successfully operated in acidic methanol electrolytes. Electrochemical characterisation has been carried out using cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and galvanostatic polarisations. A complete analysis of the electrochemical results showed that the preliminary performance of the catalysed titanium mesh was comparable to that achieved with carbon-supported PtRu catalysts. The catalysts formed on titanium mesh by thermal decomposition also exhibited dimensional stability. Catalysed titanium mesh therefore appears to be a promising alternative to carbon-supported catalysts for certain fuel cell applications.     

The Heterointerface between Fe1/NC and Selenides Boosts Reversible Oxygen Electrocatalysis

The rational design and construction of efficient and inexpensive bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts are highly desirable for the development of rechargeable Zn–air batteries (ZABs). Although single-atom Fe sites anchored on N-doped carbon catalysts (Fe₁/NC) ensure high oxygen reduction reaction activity, their unitary atomically dispersed active center faces difficult condition in catalyzing oxygen evolution reaction simultaneously. Herein, a composite catalyst containing heterointerface between Fe₁/NC and selenides ((Fe,Co)Se₂) is constructed. The obtained (Fe,Co)Se₂@Fe₁/NC exhibits extremely narrow potential gap of 0.616 V and remarkable stability in alkaline media, outperforming the benchmark catalysts (Pt/C+RuO₂: 0.720 V). Experimental results and density functional theory calculations reveal that heterointerface between Fe₁/NC and (Fe,Co)Se₂ accelerates the electron transfer and provides more moderate adsorption sites, which endow (Fe,Co)Se₂@Fe₁/NC with extremely high bifunctional oxygen catalytic activity. This study not only provides a superior bifunctional catalyst for ZABs, but also enriches the application of single-atom catalysts in multifunctional energy storage and conversion devices.     

Metal Single-Site Molecular Complex–MXene Heteroelectrocatalysts Interspersed Graphene Nanonetwork for Efficient Dual-Task of Water Splitting and Metal–Air Batteries

Development of multifunctional electrocatalysts with high efficiency and stability is of great interest in recent energy conversion technologies. Herein, a novel heteroelectrocatalyst of molecular iron complex (Fe_MC)-carbide MXene (Mo₂TiC₂T_x) uniformly embedded in a 3D graphene-based hierarchical network (GrH) is rationally designed. The coexistence of Fe_MC and MXene with their unique interactions triggers optimum electronic properties, rich multiple active sites, and favorite free adsorption energy for excellent trifunctional catalytic activities. Meanwhile, the highly porous GrH effectively promotes a multichannel architecture for charge transfer and gas/ion diffusion to improve stability. Therefore, the Fe_MC–MXene/GrH results in superb performances towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline medium. The practical tests indicate that Zn/Al–air batteries derived from Fe_MC–MXene/GrH cathodic electrodes produce high power densities of 165.6 and 172.7 mW cm⁻², respectively. Impressively, the liquid-state Zn–air battery delivers excellent cycling stability of over 1100 h. In addition, the alkaline water electrolyzer induces a low cell voltage of 1.55 V at 10 mA cm⁻² and 1.86 V at 0.4 A cm⁻² in 30 wt.% KOH at 80 °C, surpassing recent reports. The achievements suggest an exciting multifunctional electrocatalyst for electrochemical energy applications.     

A Fullerene Seeded Strategy for Facile Construction of Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nano-Onions as Robust Electrocatalysts

Carbon nano-onions (CNOs) as a novel form of carbon materials hold peculiar structural features but their electrocatalytic applications are largely discouraged by the demanding synthesis conditions (e.g., ≥1500 °C and vacuum). Using C₆₀ fullerene molecules as the sacrificial seeds and melamine as the main feedstock, herein, a novel strategy for the facile construction of CNOs nanoparticles is presented with ultrafine sizes (≈5 nm) at relatively low temperatures (≤900 °C) and atmospheric pressure. During the calcination, in-depth characterizations reveal that C₆₀ can retain the melamine-derived graphitic carbon nitride from complete sublimation at high temperatures (≥700 °C). Owing to the N removal and subsequent pentagon generation, severely deformed graphitic fragments together with the disintegrated C₆₀ molecules merge into larger sized nanosheets with high curvature, eventually leading to the formation of N-doped defect-rich CNOs. Owing to the integration of multiple favorable structural features of pentagons, edges, and N dopants, the CNOs obtained at 900 °C present superior oxygen reduction half-wave potential (0.853 V_RHE) and zinc–air cathode performance to the commercial Pt/C (0.838 V_RHE). Density functional theory calculation further uncovers that the carbon atoms adjacent to the N-doped edged pentagons are turned into the ORR-active sites with O₂ protonation as the rate-determining step.