In Situ Observations of Phase Transitions in Metastable Nickel (Carbide)/Carbon Nanocomposites

A carbon-promoted galvanic replacement method to synthesize efficient PdNi nanoalloy catalyst

PdNi nanoalloy catalysts were prepared by a carbon-promoted galvanic replacement method. Characterizations and control experiments show the increased replacement rate of metal Ni with Pd2+ ion can be attributed to the higher electrode potential and smaller crystalline sizes caused by carbon doping. Introduction of carbon (C) into Ni particles not only accelerates the formation process of PdNi nanoalloys, but also enables C atoms to successfully enter the lattice interstices of PdNi nanoalloys. C regulates the surface electronic properties of PdNi nanoalloys by the electron transfer between different elements and improves their activity. The PdNi@C-650 exhibits extraordinary activity and long-term stability for hydrogenation reduction of hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)) and hydrodechlorination of chlorophenols in comparison with PdNi/CNTs (carbon nanotubes) and commercial Pd/C. Density functional theory calculations together with investigations of mechanism reveal that the high electron-deficient PdNi nanoalloys from the redistribution of electron between Ni, Pd and C of the PdNi@C-650 promote the surface adsorption of substrate molecules and H2, which accordingly enhances the hydrogenation activity. This study brings a new method for the design and preparation of high active noble metal nanoalloy.

Engineering Ultrathin Carbon Layer on Porous Hard Carbon Boosts Sodium Storage with High Initial Coulombic Efficiency

Hard carbon (HC) has been widely adopted as the anode material for sodium ion batteries (NIBs). However, it is troubled by a low initial Coulombic efficiency (ICE) due to its porous structure. Herein, a graphitized and ultrathin carbon layer coating on HC is proposed to solve this challenge. The as-prepared porous carbon material coated with an ultrathin carbon layer composite (PCS@V@C) exhibits a cavity structure, which is prepared by using bis(cyclopentadienyl) nickel (CP-Ni) as the carbon source for outer coating, glucose carbon spheres as porous carbon, and introducing a silica layer to facilitate the coating process. When utilized as the anode for NIBs, the material shows an ICE increase from 47.1% to 85.3%, and specific capacity enhancement at 0.1 A g-1 from 155.3 to 216.7 mA h g-1. Moreover, its rate capability and cycling performance are outstanding, demonstrating a capacity of 140.3 mA h g-1 at 10 A g-1, and a retaining capacity of 225.6 mA h g-1 after 300 cycles at 0.1 A g-1 with the Coulombic efficiency of 100% at the second cycle. The excellent electrochemical performance of the PCS@V@C is attributed to the ultrathin carbon layer, which is beneficial for the formation of a stable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) film. Therefore, this study provides a feasible surface modification method for the preparation of anode materials for NIBs with high specific capacity and ICE.

Structural characterization and electronic properties of Ni/rubrene bilayers with alternative stacking sequences

Recent progress in organic electronics has attracted interest due to their excellent characteristics that include photovoltaic, light emission, and semiconducting behaviours. Spin-induced properties play important roles in organic electronics, while introducing spin into an organic layer in which spin responses, such as a weak spin-orbital coupling and long spin-relaxation time, allows a variety of spintronic applications to be achieved. However, such spin responses are rapidly attenuated by misalignment in the electronic structure of hybrid structures. We report herein on the energy level diagrams of Ni/rubrene bilayers that can be tuned by an alternating stacking. The band edges of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) levels were determined to be 1.24 and 0.48 eV relative to the Fermi level for Ni/rubrene/Si and rubrene/Ni/Si bilayers, respectively. This raises a possibility of accumulating electric dipoles at the ferromagnetic/organic semiconductor (FM/OSC) interface, which would inhibit the transfer of spin in the OSC layer. This phenomenon is caused by the formation of a Schottky-like barrier in the rubrene/Ni heterostructures. According to the information about the band edges of the HOMO levels, schematic plots of the HOMO shift in the electronic structure of the bilayers are presented. Based on the lower value of the effective uniaxial anisotropy for Ni/rubrene/Si, the uniaxial anisotropy was suppressed compared to that of rubrene/Ni/Si. The characteristics of the formation of Schottky barriers at the FM/OSC interface have an impact on the temperature-dependent spin states in the bilayers.

A completely precious metal-free alkaline fuel cell with enhanced performance using a carbon-coated nickel anode

SignificanceWe present a groundbreaking advance in completely nonprecious hydrogen fuel cell technologies achieving a record power density of 200 mW/cm² with Ni@CN_x anode and Co-Mn cathode. The 2-nm CN_x coating weakens the O-binding energy, which effectively mitigates the undesirable surface oxidation during hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) polarization, leading to a stable fuel cell operation for Ni@CN_x over 100 h at 200 mA/cm², superior to a Ni nanoparticle counterpart. Ni@CNx exhibited a dramatically enhanced tolerance to CO relative to Pt/C, enabling the use of hydrogen gas with trace amounts of CO, critical for practical applications. The complete removal of precious metals in fuel cells lowers the catalyst cost to virtually negligible levels and marks a milestone for practical alkaline fuel cells.

Selective ligand removal to improve accessibility of active sites in hierarchical MOFs for heterogeneous photocatalysis

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are commended as photocatalysts for H2 evolution and CO2 reduction as they combine light-harvesting and catalytic functions with excellent reactant adsorption capabilities. For dynamic processes in liquid phase, the accessibility of active sites becomes a critical parameter as reactant diffusion is limited by the inherently small micropores. Our strategy is to introduce additional mesopores by selectively removing one ligand in mixed-ligand MOFs via thermolysis. Here we report photoactive MOFs of the MIL-125-Ti family with two distinct mesopore architectures resembling either large cavities or branching fractures. The ligand removal is highly selective and follows a 2-step process tunable by temperature and time. The introduction of mesopores and the associated formation of new active sites have improved the HER rates of the MOFs by up to 500%. We envision that this strategy will allow the purposeful engineering of hierarchical MOFs and advance their applicability in environmental and energy technologies.

Unraveling High Alkene Selectivity at Full Conversion in Alkyne Hydrogenation over Ni under Continuous Flow Conditions

Selective hydrogenation of alkynes into alkenes in continuous flow conditions over non-precious metal catalysts is an attractive prospect for the chemical industry, especially for the petrochemical and polymer industry. Achieving...

Low temperature thermal ALD process for nickel utilizing dichlorobis(triethylphosphine)nickel(II) and 1,4-bis(trimethylgermyl)-1,4-dihydropyrazine

In this work, we developed a new ALD process for nickel metal from dichlorobis(triethylphosphine)nickel(II) (NiCl2(PEt3)2) and 1,4-bis(trimethylgermyl)-1,4-dihydropyrazine ((Me3Ge)2DHP). A series of phosphine adducts of nickel and cobalt halides was synthesized...

Optimizing Active Sites for High CO Selectivity during CO2 Hydrogenation over Supported Nickel Catalysts

Controlling the selectivity of CO₂ hydrogenation catalysts is a fundamental challenge. In this study, the selectivity of supported Ni catalysts prepared by the traditional impregnation method was found to change after a first CO₂ hydrogenation reaction cycle from 100 to 800 °C. The usually high CH₄ formation was suppressed leading to full selectivity toward CO. This behavior was also observed after the catalyst was treated under methane or propane atmospheres at elevated temperatures. In situ spectroscopic studies revealed that the accumulation of carbon species on the catalyst surface at high temperatures leads to a nickel carbide-like phase. The catalyst regains its high selectivity to CH₄ production after carbon depletion from the surface of the Ni particles by oxidation. However, the selectivity readily shifts back toward CO formation after exposing the catalysts to a new temperature-programmed CO₂ hydrogenation cycle. The fraction of weakly adsorbed CO species increases on the carbide-like surface when compared to a clean nickel surface, explaining the higher selectivity to CO. This easy protocol of changing the surface of a common Ni catalyst to gain selectivity represents an important step for the commercial use of CO₂ hydrogenation to CO processes toward high-added-value products.

Improving the Antioxidation Capability of the Ni Catalyst by Carbon Shell Coating for Alkaline Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction

Increasing the antioxidation capability of Ni for the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) is considered important and challenging for alkaline polymer electrolyte fuel cells (APEFCs). Herein, we report a series of Ni-core carbon-shell (Ni@C) catalysts obtained by a vacuum pyrolysis method treated at different temperatures. According to the cyclic voltammetry tests and the HOR tests, Ni@C treated at 500 °C exhibits a much higher Ni core utilization and better catalytic activity toward HOR than the commonly used Ni/C catalyst. Furthermore, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterization shows that a higher percentage of Ni⁰ appears at the surface of the Ni core of Ni@C than the Ni/C catalyst. The accelerated durability tests, as well as the chronoamperometry tests, suggest that the antioxidation capability of Ni has been obviously improved by the carbon shells. The Raman spectra show that the graphitization degree of the carbon shells might be the key factor affecting the Ni utilization and the HOR catalytic activity of the Ni@C catalysts. The APEFC achieves a peak power density of 160 mW/cm² using Ni@C-500 °C as the anode, which could also stably discharge for 120 h at 0.7 V.

One-step coating of commercial Ni nanoparticles with a Ni, N-co-doped carbon shell towards efficient electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction

Commercial nickel nanoparticles (Ni NPs) were directly converted to efficient electrocatalysts for CO₂ reduction by urea-Ni solid powder pyrolysis, in which a Ni, N-co-doped graphite carbon shell wraps the Ni NPs in situ. 98.3% CO selectivity was realized with a current density of -20.2 mA cm^-2 and an overpotential of 0.69 V.

Oxidised charcoal: an efficient support for NiFe layered double hydroxide to improve electrochemical oxygen evolution

NiFeLDH/oxidised charcoal showed excellent activity in the oxygen evolution reaction with an overpotential of 240 mV at 10 mA cm⁻², which is ∼115 mV less than that of NiFeLDH.

Mussel-inspired immobilization of Au on bare and graphene-wrapped Ni nanoparticles toward highly efficient and easily recyclable catalysts

Bimetallic nanocatalysts have been gaining huge research attention in the heterogeneous catalysis community recently owing to their tunable properties and multifunctional characteristics. In this work, we fabricated a bimetallic core-shell nanocomposite catalyst by employing a mussel-inspired strategy for immobilizing gold nanoparticles (AuNP) on the surface of nickel nanoparticles (NiNP). NiNPs obtained from the reduction of Ni(ii) were first coated with polydopamine to provide the anchoring sites towards the robust immobilization of AuNPs. The as-synthesized nanocomposite (Ni-PD-Au) exhibited outstanding catalytic activity while reducing methylene blue (MB) and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) yielding rate constants 13.11 min-1 and 4.21 min-1, respectively, outperforming the catalytic efficiency of its monometallic counterparts and other similar reported catalysts by large margins. The superior catalytic efficiency of the Ni-PD-Au was attributed to the well-known synergistic effect, which was experimentally investigated and compared with prior reports. Similar bio-inspired immobilization of AuNPs was also applied on graphene-wrapped NiNPs (Ni-G) instead of bare NiNPs to synthesize another composite catalyst (Ni-G-PD-Au), which yet again exhibited synergistic catalytic activity. A comparative study between the two nanocomposites suggested that Ni-PD-Au excelled in catalytic activity but Ni-G-PD-Au provided noteworthy stability showing ∼100% efficiency over 17 repeated cycles. However, along with excellent synergistic performance, both nanocomposites demonstrated high magnetization and thermal stability up to 350 °C ascertaining their easy separation and sustainability for high-temperature applications, respectively.

Tunable colloidal Ni nanoparticles confined and redistributed in mesoporous silica for CO2 methanation

Colloidal Ni nanoparticles were prepared using seed-mediated strategies and encapsulated in mesoporous silica to yield stable and sinter-resistant hydrogenation catalysts.

5D operando tomographic diffraction imaging of a catalyst bed

We report the results from the first 5D tomographic diffraction imaging experiment of a complex Ni–Pd/CeO₂–ZrO₂/Al₂O₃ catalyst used for methane reforming. This five-dimensional (three spatial, one scattering and one dimension to denote time/imposed state) approach enabled us to track the chemical evolution of many particles across the catalyst bed and relate these changes to the gas environment that the particles experience. Rietveld analysis of some 2 × 10⁶ diffraction patterns allowed us to extract heterogeneities in the catalyst from the Å to the nm and to the μm scale (3D maps corresponding to unit cell lattice parameters, crystallite sizes and phase distribution maps respectively) under different chemical environments. We are able to capture the evolution of the Ni-containing species and gain a more complete insight into the multiple roles of the CeO₂-ZrO₂ promoters and the reasons behind the partial deactivation of the catalyst during partial oxidation of methane.

Multi-scale chemical imaging holds the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the relationships between structure and functionality in complex catalytic materials. Here the authors report the results from the first 5D tomographic diffraction imaging experiment of a complex Ni – Pd/ CeO₂ – ZrO₂/ Al₂O₃ catalyst used for methane reforming.

Atomic Layer Deposition of Nickel Carbide from a Nickel Amidinate Precursor and Hydrogen Plasma

A new atomic layer deposition (ALD) process for depositing nickel carbide (Ni₃C _x) thin films is reported, using bis( N, N'-di- tert-butylacetamidinato)nickel(II) and H₂ plasma. The process shows a good layer-by-layer film growth behavior with a saturated film growth rate of 0.039 nm/cycle for a fairly wide process temperature window from 75 to 250 °C. Comprehensive material characterizations are performed on the Ni₃C _x films deposited at 95 °C with various H₂ plasma pulse lengths from 5 to 12 s, and no appreciable difference is found with the change of the plasma pulse length. The deposited Ni₃C _x films are fairly pure, smooth, and conductive, and the x in the nominal formula of Ni₃C _x is approximately 0.7. The ALD Ni₃C _x films are polycrystalline with a rhombohedral Ni₃C crystal structure, and the films are free of nanocrystalline graphite or amorphous carbon. Last, we demonstrate that, by using this ALD process, highly uniform Ni₃C _x films can be conformally deposited into deep narrow trenches with an aspect ratio as high as 20:1, which thereby highlights the broad and promising applicability of this process for conformal Ni₃C _x film coatings on complex high-aspect-ratio 3D architectures in general.

Role of Precursor Carbides for Graphene Growth on Ni(111)

Surface X-ray Diffraction was used to study the transformation of a carbon-supersaturated carbidic precursor toward a complete single layer of graphene in the temperature region below 703 K without carbon supply from the gas phase. The excess carbon beyond the 0.45  monolayers of C atoms within a single Ni2C layer is accompanied by sharpened reflections of the |4772| superstructure, along with ring-like diffraction features resulting from non-coincidence rotated Ni2C-type domains. A dynamic Ni2C reordering process, accompanied by slow carbon loss to subsurface regions, is proposed to increase the Ni2C 2D carbide long-range order via ripening toward coherent domains, and to increase the local supersaturation of near-surface dissolved carbon required for spontaneous graphene nucleation and growth. Upon transformation, the intensities of the surface carbide reflections and of specific powder-like diffraction rings vanish. The associated change of the specular X-ray reflectivity allows to quantify a single, fully surface-covering layer of graphene (2 ML C) without diffraction contributions of rotated domains. The simultaneous presence of top-fcc and bridge-top configurations of graphene explains the crystal truncation rod data of the graphene-covered surface. Structure determination of the |4772| precursor surface-carbide using density functional theory is in perfect agreement with the experimentally derived X-ray structure factors.

Growth, structure and stability of sputter-deposited MoS2 thin films

Molybdenum disulphide (MoS₂) thin films have received increasing interest as device-active layers in low-dimensional electronics and also as novel catalysts in electrochemical processes such as the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in electrochemical water splitting. For both types of applications, industrially scalable fabrication methods with good control over the MoS₂ film properties are crucial. Here, we investigate scalable physical vapour deposition (PVD) of MoS₂ films by magnetron sputtering. MoS₂ films with thicknesses from ≈10 to ≈1000 nm were deposited on SiO₂/Si and reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) substrates. Samples deposited at room temperature (RT) and at 400 °C were compared. The deposited MoS₂ was characterized by macro- and microscopic X-ray, electron beam and light scattering, scanning and spectroscopic methods as well as electrical device characterization. We find that room-temperature-deposited MoS₂ films are amorphous, of smooth surface morphology and easily degraded upon moderate laser-induced annealing in ambient conditions. In contrast, films deposited at 400 °C are nano-crystalline, show a nano-grained surface morphology and are comparatively stable against laser-induced degradation. Interestingly, results from electrical transport measurements indicate an unexpected metallic-like conduction character of the studied PVD MoS₂ films, independent of deposition temperature. Possible reasons for these unusual electrical properties of our PVD MoS₂ thin films are discussed. A potential application for such conductive nanostructured MoS₂ films could be as catalytically active electrodes in (photo-)electrocatalysis and initial electrochemical measurements suggest directions for future work on our PVD MoS₂ films.

Cyanide bridged coordination polymer nanoflakes thermally derived Ni3C and fcc-Ni nanoparticles for electrocatalysts

We have reported a controlled crystal growth process, which allows the formation of NiCNNi CP nanoflakes derived Ni₃C and fcc-Ni nanoparticles.