Electronic-Structure-Modulated Cu,Co-Coanchored N-Doped Nanocarbon as a Difunctional Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution and Oxygen Reduction Reactions
Liyun Cao,
Rui Liu,
Yixuan Huang,
Dewei Chu,
Mengyao Li,
Guoting Xu,
Xiaoyi Li,
Jianfeng Huang,
Yong Zhao,
Liangliang Feng
Affiliations
Liyun Cao
School of Materials Science and Engineering, International S&T Cooperation Foundation of Shaanxi Province, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, China
Rui Liu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, International S&T Cooperation Foundation of Shaanxi Province, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, China
Yixuan Huang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Dewei Chu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Mengyao Li
School of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Guoting Xu
College of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, Kashi University, Kashi 844000, China
Xiaoyi Li
School of Materials Science and Engineering, International S&T Cooperation Foundation of Shaanxi Province, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, China
Jianfeng Huang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, International S&T Cooperation Foundation of Shaanxi Province, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, China
Yong Zhao
School of Materials Science and Engineering, International S&T Cooperation Foundation of Shaanxi Province, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, China
Liangliang Feng
School of Materials Science and Engineering, International S&T Cooperation Foundation of Shaanxi Province, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, China
To alleviate the problems of environmental pollution and energy crisis, aggressive development of clean and alternative energy technologies, in particular, water splitting, metal–air batteries, and fuel cells involving two key half reactions comprising hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen reduction (ORR), is crucial. In this work, an innovative hybrid comprising heterogeneous Cu/Co bimetallic nanoparticles homogeneously dispersed on a nitrogen-doped carbon layer (Cu/Co/NC) was constructed as a bifunctional electrocatalyst toward HER and ORR via a hydrothermal reaction along with post-solid-phase sintering technique. Thanks to the interfacial coupling and electronic synergism between the Cu and Co bimetallic nanoparticles, the Cu/Co/NC catalyst showed improved catalytic ORR activity with a half-wave potential of 0.865 V and an excellent stability of more than 30 h, even compared to 20 wt% Pt/C. The Cu/Co/NC catalyst also exhibited excellent HER catalytic performance with an overpotential of below 149 mV at 10 mA/cm2 and long-term operation for over 30 h.
