Distorted quantum dots enhance the efficiency of alkaline oxygen electrocatalysis

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 8; no. 4; pp. 21173 - 2118
• Main Authors: Zhang, Xiaoyu, Fu, Weiwei, Tian, Wu, Wan, Jin, Zhang, Han, Wang, Yu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 28.10.2020
• Subjects: Catalysis; Catalytic activity; Charge transfer; Chemical reactions; Distortion; Durability; Electrocatalysis; Heterostructures; Mass transport; Metal nitrides; Nanomaterials; Nanostructure; Nanotechnology; Nickel; Oxygen; Quantum dots; Self-assembly; Substrates; Transition metals; Ultrafines; Vanadium
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/d0ta07975h

Highly dispersed quantum dots with efficient catalytic activity continue to be of great interest in the research of electrocatalytic materials. Herein, we report a caterpillar-like nanostructure self-assembled from porous vanadium nitride nanosheets, which were uniformly decorated with ultrafine nickel nitride quantum dots. Detailed structural and chemical investigations verified that the VN substrate distorts the Ni 3 N lattice fringes due to strong interatomic interaction at the interface, in which case a low match heterostructure is simultaneously generated. The successful construction of Ni 3 N QDs chemically coupled with porous vanadium nitride (VN) nanosheets allowed realizing rapid charge transfer and mass transport. Especially, the distorted QD configuration with a modified chemical state played a vital role in enhanced oxygen electrocatalysis performance, thereby, making the material highly efficient for catalyzing oxygen reduction/evolution reactions. Featuring a small overpotential, rapid electrode kinetics, and excellent structural durability, the synthesized D-Ni 3 N QDs/VN was superior to most transition metal nitrides previously reported. This discovery opens a completely new avenue for elevating oxygen-involving reactions by taking advantage of structural distortion effects in hybrid nanomaterials. Scattering quantum dots bind chemically to substrate is considered as an efficient kind of strategy to modulate electronical construction and catalytic properties in the research of electrocatalytic materials.