An MOF-derived C@NiO@Ni electrocatalyst for N2 conversion to NH3 in alkaline electrolytes

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 164-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shijian Luo ◽  
Xiaoman Li ◽  
Wanguo Gao ◽  
Haiqiang Zhang ◽  
Min Luo

MOF-derived C@NiO@Ni are proposed as an efficient electrocatalyst for N2 reduction reaction in alkaline media. Abundant oxygen vacancies and NiO/Ni interfaces can act as active sites for adsorbing nitrogen and proton, respectively.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Li ◽  
Xiaoxia Chang ◽  
Haochen Zhang ◽  
Arnav S. Malkani ◽  
Mu-jeng Cheng ◽  
...  

AbstractRigorous electrokinetic results are key to understanding the reaction mechanisms in the electrochemical CO reduction reaction (CORR), however, most reported results are compromised by the CO mass transport limitation. In this work, we determined mass transport-free CORR kinetics by employing a gas-diffusion type electrode and identified dependence of catalyst surface speciation on the electrolyte pH using in-situ surface enhanced vibrational spectroscopies. Based on the measured Tafel slopes and reaction orders, we demonstrate that the formation rates of C2+ products are most likely limited by the dimerization of CO adsorbate. CH4 production is limited by the CO hydrogenation step via a proton coupled electron transfer and a chemical hydrogenation step of CO by adsorbed hydrogen atom in weakly (7 < pH < 11) and strongly (pH > 11) alkaline electrolytes, respectively. Further, CH4 and C2+ products are likely formed on distinct types of active sites.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 843-852
Author(s):  
Hunan Jiang ◽  
Jinyang Li ◽  
Mengni Liang ◽  
Hanpeng Deng ◽  
Zuowan Zhou

AbstractAlthough Fe–N/C catalysts have received increasing attention in recent years for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), it is still challenging to precisely control the active sites during the preparation. Herein, we report FexN@RGO catalysts with the size of 2–6 nm derived from the pyrolysis of graphene oxide and 1,1′-diacetylferrocene as C and Fe precursors under the NH3/Ar atmosphere as N source. The 1,1′-diacetylferrocene transforms to Fe3O4 at 600°C and transforms to Fe3N and Fe2N at 700°C and 800°C, respectively. The as-prepared FexN@RGO catalysts exhibited superior electrocatalytic activities in acidic and alkaline media compared with the commercial 10% Pt/C, in terms of electrochemical surface area, onset potential, half-wave potential, number of electrons transferred, kinetic current density, and exchange current density. In addition, the stability of FGN-8 also outperformed commercial 10% Pt/C after 10000 cycles, which demonstrates the as-prepared FexN@RGO as durable and active ORR catalysts in acidic media.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 3846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Luo ◽  
Wuli Han ◽  
Han Ren ◽  
Qingzuo Zhuang

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) provides a vital role for microbial fuel cells (MFCs) due to its slow reaction kinetics compared with the anodic oxidation reaction. How to develop new materials with low cost, high efficacy, and eco-friendliness which could replace platinum-based electrocatalysis is a challenge that we have to resolve. In this work, we accomplished this successfully by means of a facile strategy to synthesize a metallic organic framework-derived Fe, N, S co-doped carbon with FeS as the main phase. The Fe/S@N/C-0.5 catalyst demonstrated outstandingly enhanced ORR activity in neutral PBS and alkaline media, compared to that of commercial 20% Pt-C catalyst. Here, we started-up and operated two parallel single-chamber microbial fuel cells of an air cathode, and those cathode catalysts were Fe/S@N/C-0.5 and commercial Pt-C (20% Pt), respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) elaborated that the Fe/S@N/C-0.5 composite did not change the polyhedron morphology of ZIF-8. According to X-ray diffractometry(XRD) curves, the main crystal phase of the resulted Fe/S@N/C-0.5 was FeS. The chemical environment of N, S, and Fe which are anticipated to be the high-efficiency active sites of ORR for MFCs were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic(XPS). Nitrogen adsorption/desorption techniques were used to calculate the pore diameter distribution. In brief, the obtained Fe/S@N/C-0.5 material exhibited a pronounced reduction potential at 0.861 V (versus Reversible Hydrogen Electrode(RHE)) in 0.1M KOH solution and –0.03 V (vs. SCE) in the PBS solution, which both outperform the benchmark platinum-based catalysts. Fe/S@N/C-0.5-MFC had a higher Open Circuit Voltage(OCV) (0.71 V), stronger maximum power density (1196 mW/m2), and larger output voltage (0.47 V) than the Pt/C-MFC under the same conditions.


Research ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong-Li Meng ◽  
Chun-Hui Chen ◽  
Jun-Dong Yi ◽  
Qiao Wu ◽  
Jun Liang ◽  
...  

It is highly desired but challenging to achieve highly active single-atom Fe sites from iron-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) due to the easy aggregation of iron species and formation of the inactive Fe-based particles during pyrolysis. Herein, a facile migration-prevention strategy is developed involving the incorporation of polyaniline (PANI) into the pores of iron porphyrinic-based MOF PCN-224(Fe) and followed by pyrolysis to obtain the single-atom Fe implanted N-doped porous carbons material PANI@PCN-224(Fe)-900. The introduced PANI inside the pores of PCN-224(Fe) not only served as protective fences to prevent the aggregation of the iron species during thermal annealing, but also acted as nitrogen sources to increase the nitrogen content and form Fe-Nx-C active sites. Compared with the pristine PCN-224(Fe) derived carbonization sample containing Fe-based particles, the carbonaceous material PANI@PCN-224(Fe)-900 without inactive Fe-based particles exhibited superb ORR electrocatalytic activity with a more positive half-wave potential, significantly improved stability in both alkaline media, and more challenging acidic condition. The migration-prevention strategy provides a new way to fabricate atomically dispersed metal active sites via pyrolysis approach for promoting catalysis.


RSC Advances ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (15) ◽  
pp. 8709-8716
Author(s):  
Lin Gu ◽  
Yunyun Dong ◽  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Bo Wang ◽  
Qing Yuan ◽  
...  

The PPYTZ–Fe/C catalyst containing Fe–N active sites exhibited high ORR catalytic activity and stability in alkaline media with a four-electron pathway progress.


Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Jun-Woo Park ◽  
Jeongsuk Seo

The high activity of non-platinum electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline media is necessary for applications in energy conversion devices such as fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Herein, we present the electrocatalytic activity of TaOx/carbon black (CB) nanoparticles for the ORR in an alkaline atmosphere as well as in an acidic electrolyte. Ultrafine TaOx nanoparticles 1–2 nm in size and uniformly dispersed on CB supports were prepared by potentiostatic electrodeposition in a nonaqueous electrolyte and subsequent annealing treatment in an H2 flow. The TaOx/CB nanoparticles largely catalyzed the ORR with an onset potential of 1.03 VRHE in an O2-saturated 0.1 M KOH solution comparable to that of a commercial Pt/CB catalyst. ORR activity was also observed in 0.1 M H2SO4 solution. According to the rotating ring disk electrode measurement results, the oxide nanoparticles partly produced H2O2 during the ORR in 0.1 M KOH, and the ORR process was dominated by both the two- and four-electron reductions of oxygen in a diffusion-limited potential region. The Tafel slope of −120 mV dec−1 in low and high current densities revealed the surface stability of the oxide nanoparticles during the ORR. Therefore, these results demonstrated that the TaOx/CB nanoparticles were electroactive for the ORR in both acidic and alkaline electrolytes.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (32) ◽  
pp. 16605-16610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenhua Zhong ◽  
Jiaxiang Chen ◽  
Peixin Zhang ◽  
Libo Deng ◽  
Lei Yao ◽  
...  

Plasma etching removed less stable carbons and exposed the active sites in Fe–N/C catalysts which resulted in excellent performances towards the oxygen reduction reaction in both acidic and alkaline media.


Catalysts ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1326
Author(s):  
Xiuxiang Liao ◽  
Xiaobo Wang ◽  
Cuiyu Huang ◽  
Lihua Zhu

Copper- and nitrogen-codoped reduced graphene oxide material (Cu/N-rGO) was prepared with a hydrothermal method. Its versatile catalytic performances were demonstrated toward the oxidative degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The Cu and N codoping of graphene enhanced not only its activation ability toward H2O2, but also its electrocatalytic ability for ORR. It was observed that the use of 3%Cu/N-rGO together with 40 mmol·L−1 H2O2 and 4 mmol·L−1 Na2CO3 could remove more than 94% of the added RhB (30 mg·L−1) in 20 min through a catalytic Fenton-like degradation. Quenching experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements indicated that the main reactive species generated in the catalytic oxidation process were surface-bound •OH. The modified graphene also showed good electrocatalytic activity for ORR reaction in alkaline media through a four-electron mechanism. On the electrode of Cu/N-rGO, the ORR reaction exhibited an onset potential of −0.1 V and a half-wave potential of −0.248 V, which were correspondingly close to those on a Pt/C electrode. In comparison with a Pt/C electrode, the 3%Cu/N-rGO electrode showed much greater tolerance to methanol. Such outstanding catalytic properties are attributed to the abundant active sites and the synergism between Cu and N in Cu/N-rGO.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Ilnicka ◽  
Malgorzata Skorupska ◽  
Magdalena Tyc ◽  
Kinga Kowalska ◽  
Piotr Kamedulski ◽  
...  

AbstractThe development of effective catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is a significant challenge in energy conversion systems, e.g., Zn–air batteries. Herein, green-algae- and gelatine-derived porous, nitrogen-rich carbons were extensively investigated as electrode materials for electrochemical catalytic reactions. These carbon-based catalysts were designed and optimized to create a metal-free catalyst via templating, carbonization, and subsequent removal of the template. The additional incorporation of graphene improved electronic conductivity and enhanced the electrochemical catalytic reaction. Porous carbons with heteroatoms were used as effective platinum-free ORR electrocatalysts for energy conversion; the presence of nitrogen in the carbon provided more active sites for ORR. Our catalyst also displayed notable durability in a rechargeable Zn–air battery energy system. More importantly, the nitrogen-containing porous carbons were found to have comparable ORR performance in alkaline media to commercially available electrocatalysts. The manuscript demonstrates that nitrogen atom insertion is an appropriate approach when aiming to eliminate noble metals from the synthesis route. N-doped carbons are competitive materials compared to reference platinum-based catalysts.


Author(s):  
Da-Ming Feng ◽  
Ying Sun ◽  
Zhong-Yong Yuan ◽  
Yang Fu ◽  
Baohua Jia ◽  
...  

AbstractThe electrochemical production of green and low-cost ammonia requests the development of high-performance electrocatalysts. In this work, the ampoule method was applied to modulate the surface of the zinc electrode by implanting defects and low-valent active sites. The N-doped ZnS electrocatalyst was thus generated by sulfurization with thiourea and applied for electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (ENRR). Given the rich sulfur vacancies and abundant Zn-N active sites on the surface, excellent catalytic activity and selectivity were obtained, with an NH3 yield rate of 2.42 × 10–10 mol s−1 cm−2 and a Faradaic efficiency of 7.92% at − 0.6 V vs. RHE in 0.1 M KOH solution. Moreover, the as-synthesized zinc electrode exhibits high stability after five recycling tests and a 24 h potentiostatic test. The comparison with Zn foil, non-doping ZnS/Zn and recent metal sulfide electrocatalysts further demonstrated advanced catalytic performance of N@ZnS/Zn for ENRR. By simple synthesis, S vacancies, and N-doping defects, this promising electrocatalyst would represent a good addition to the arena of transition-metal-based catalysts with superior performance in ENRR. Graphic abstract


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