Cobalt-gluconate-derived high-density cobalt sulfides nanocrystals encapsulated within nitrogen and sulfur dual-doped micro/mesoporous carbon spheres for efficient electrocatalysis of oxygen reduction

Haitao Wang; Xiaoyu Qiu; Zhuo Peng; Wei Wang; Junlei Wang; Tiansui Zhang; Lipei Jiang; Hongfang Liu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2019.11.065

Cobalt-gluconate-derived high-density cobalt sulfides nanocrystals encapsulated within nitrogen and sulfur dual-doped micro/mesoporous carbon spheres for efficient electrocatalysis of oxygen reduction

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2020 Mar 1:561:829-837. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.11.065. Epub 2019 Nov 18.

Authors

Haitao Wang¹, Xiaoyu Qiu², Zhuo Peng², Wei Wang³, Junlei Wang², Tiansui Zhang², Lipei Jiang², Hongfang Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Process (Ministry of Education), School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology (WIT), 693 Xiongchu Avenue, Wuhan 430073, PR China. Electronic address: wanghaitao@wit.edu.cn.
² Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage (Ministry of Education), School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), 1037 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430074, PR China.
³ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology (HNIST), 439 Xueyuan Road, Yueyang 414006, PR China. Electronic address: ww1454174@foxmail.com.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage (Ministry of Education), School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), 1037 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430074, PR China. Electronic address: liuhf@hust.edu.cn.

PMID: 31767397
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.11.065

Abstract

The exploration of an efficient nonprecious electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is critical to the commercialization of various electrochemical energy-conversion devices. Herein, a cobalt-gluconate-derived nitrogen and sulfur dual-doped micro/mesoporous carbon sphere (Co₉S₈/N, S-MCS) with encapsulated high-density cobalt sulfide (Co₉S₈) nanocrystals is developed by annealing and subsequent high-temperature vulcanization. Particularly, the vulcanization temperature has a critical impact on the formation of high-density Co₉S₈ nanocrystals. Benefiting from the favorable material characteristics of large surface area, abundant micro/mesopores and high graphitic nanostructures, as well as the synergistic effects between high-density Co₉S₈ nanocrystals and N, S-dual doped graphitic carbon shells, the resulting catalyst demonstrates superior ORR catalytic activity and durability compared to platinum/carbon (Pt/C) catalyst. More notably, the proposed approach can be extended potentially to fabricate other transition metal sulfide (or oxide, carbide) based electrocatalysts.

Keywords: Cobalt-gluconate; High-density Co(9)S(8) nanocrystals; Micro/mesoporous carbon spheres; Nitrogen and sulfur co-doping; Oxygen reduction reaction.