"Nano-garden cultivation" for electrocatalysis: controlled synthesis of Nature-inspired hierarchical nanostructures

Three-dimensional intricate nanostructures hold great promise for real-life applications. Many of these hierarchical structures resemble shapes from Nature, demonstrating much improved physico-chemical properties. Yet, their rational design and controlled synthesis remain challenging. By simply mani...

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Published inJournal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 8; no. 16; pp. 7626 - 7632
Main Authors Yan, Xiaoyu, Zhao, Yang, Biemolt, Jasper, Zhao, Kai, Laan, Petrus C. M, Cao, Xiaojuan, Yan, Ning
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 28.04.2020
Subjects
Catalytic activity
Chemical evolution
Chemical properties
Cultivation
Gardens & gardening
Hydrogen evolution reactions
Mimicry
Nanostructure
Noble metals
Physicochemical properties
Soil conditions
Soil structure
Structural hierarchy
Structural integrity
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Summary:Three-dimensional intricate nanostructures hold great promise for real-life applications. Many of these hierarchical structures resemble shapes from Nature, demonstrating much improved physico-chemical properties. Yet, their rational design and controlled synthesis remain challenging. By simply manipulating (electro)chemical gradients using a combined hydrothermal and electrodeposition strategy, we herein show the controlled growth of Co(OH) 2 nanostructures, mimicking the process of garden cultivation. The resulting "nano-garden" can selectively contain different patterns, all of which can be fully phosphidated into CoP without losing the structural integrity. Remarkably, these CoP nanostructures show distinct catalytic performance in oxygen evolution and hydrogen evolution reactions. Under pH-universal conditions, the CoP "soil + flower-with-stem" structure shows a much more "effective" surface area for gas-evolving reactions with lower activation and concentration overpotentials. This provides superior bifunctional catalytic activity for both reactions, outperforming noble metal counterparts. The rational coupling of hydrothermal and electrodeposition approaches enables controlled synthesis of various CoP Nature-inspired nanostructures with distinct electrocatalytic performance.
Bibliography:Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI
10.1039/d0ta00870b
ISSN:2050-7488
2050-7496
DOI:10.1039/d0ta00870b