Multifunctional Electrocatalysis on a Porous N-Doped NiCo2O4@C Nanonetwork

Yuan Ha; Lingxia Shi; Xiaoxiao Yan; Ziliang Chen; Yunpeng Li; Wei Xu; Renbing Wu

doi:10.1021/acsami.9b13580

Multifunctional Electrocatalysis on a Porous N-Doped NiCo₂O₄@C Nanonetwork

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2019 Dec 11;11(49):45546-45553. doi: 10.1021/acsami.9b13580. Epub 2019 Nov 27.

Authors

Yuan Ha¹, Lingxia Shi¹, Xiaoxiao Yan¹, Ziliang Chen¹, Yunpeng Li¹, Wei Xu¹, Renbing Wu¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Materials Science , Fudan University , Shanghai 200433 , China.

PMID: 31724846
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b13580

Abstract

Developing a multifunctional electrocatalyst with eminent activity, strong durability, and cheapness for the hydrogen/oxygen evolution reaction (HER/OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is critical to overall water splitting and regenerative fuel cells. Herein, a nitrogen-doped nanonetwork assembled by porous and defective NiCo₂O₄@C nanowires grown on nickel foam (N-NiCo₂O₄@C@NF) is crafted via biomimetic mineralization and following carbonization of phase-transited lysozyme (PTL)-coupled NiCo₂O₄. The as-obtained N-NiCo₂O₄@C@NF electrocatalysts exhibit an exceptional catalytic activity with ultralow overpotentials for the HER (42 mV) and OER (242 mV) to afford 10 mA cm^-2 while maintaining good stability in alkaline media. Meanwhile, the N-NiCo2O4@C electrocatalysts presents a superior catalytic activity for ORR and a favorable four-electron pathway. The unprecedented catalytic performance arises from a highly porous structure and abundant defects and synergistic effects of components. This work may offer a new possibility in the exploration of multifunctional electrocatalysts for various energy-related electrocatalytic reactions.

Keywords: HER; NiCo2O4@C nanonetwork; OER; ORR; multifunctional electrocatalyst.