Single-Atomic Co-N 4 Sites with CrCo Nanoparticles for Metal-Air Battery-Driven Hydrogen Evolution
Designing highly active and robust earth abundant trifunctional electrocatalysts for energy storage and conversion applications remain an enormous challenge. Herein, we report a trifunctional electrocatalyst (CrCo/CoN @CNT-5), synthesized at low calcination temperature (550 °C), which consists of Co...
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Published in | Inorganic chemistry Vol. 63; no. 16; pp. 7218 - 7232 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
22.04.2024
|
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Designing highly active and robust earth abundant trifunctional electrocatalysts for energy storage and conversion applications remain an enormous challenge. Herein, we report a trifunctional electrocatalyst (CrCo/CoN
@CNT-5), synthesized at low calcination temperature (550 °C), which consists of Co-N
single atom and CrCo alloy nanoparticles and exhibits outstanding electrocatalytic performance for the hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, and oxygen reduction reaction. The catalyst is able to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm
in an alkaline electrolytic cell at a very low cell voltage of ∼1.60 V. When the catalyst is equipped in a liquid rechargeable Zn-air battery, it endowed a high open-circuit voltage with excellent cycling durability and outperformed the commercial Pt/C+IrO
catalytic system. Furthermore, the Zn-air battery powered self-driven water splitting system is displayed using CrCo/CoN
@CNT-5 as sole trifunctional catalyst, delivering a high H
evolution rate of 168 μmol h
. Theoretical calculations reveal synergistic interaction between Co-N
active sites and CrCo nanoparticles, favoring the Gibbs free energy for H
evolution. The presence of Cr not only enhances the H
O adsorption and dissociation but also tunes the electronic property of CrCo nanoparticles to provide optimized hydrogen binding capacity to Co-N
sites, thus giving rise to accelerated H
evolution kinetics. This work highlights the importance of the presence of small quantity of Cr in enhancing the electrocatalytic activity as well as robustness of single-atom catalyst and suggests the design of the multifunctional robust electrocatalysts for long-term H
evolution application. |
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ISSN: | 0020-1669 1520-510X |
DOI: | 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c04443 |