Kim JE, Lim J, Lee GY, Choi SH, Maiti UN, Lee WJ, Lee HJ, Kim SO. Subnanometer Cobalt-Hydroxide-Anchored N-Doped Carbon Nanotube Forest for Bifunctional Oxygen Catalyst.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2016;
8:1571-1577. [PMID:
26766495 DOI:
10.1021/acsami.5b10297]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Electrochemical oxygen redox reactions are the crucial elements for energy conversion and storage including fuel cells and metal air batteries. Despite tremendous research efforts, developing high-efficient, low-cost, and durable bifunctional oxygen catalysts remains a major challenge. We report a new class of hybrid material consisting of subnanometer thick amorphous cobalt hydroxide anchored on NCNT as a durable ORR/OER bifunctional catalyst. Although amorphous cobalt species-based catalysts are known as good OER catalysts, hybridizing with NCNT successfully enhanced ORR activity by promoting a 4e reduction pathway. Abundant charge carriers in amorphous cobalt hydroxide are found to trigger the superior OER activity with high current density and low Tafel slope as low as 36 mV/decade. A remarkably high OER turnover frequency (TOF) of 2.3 s(-1) at an overpotential of 300 mV was obtained, one of the highest values reported so far. Moreover, the catalytic activity was maintained over 120 h of cycling. The unique subnanometer scale morphology of amorphous hydroxide cobalt species along with intimate cobalt species-NCNT interaction minimizes the deactivation of catalyst during prolonged repeated cycles.
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