Interface engineering of Ni/NiO heterostructures with abundant catalytic active sites for enhanced methanol oxidation electrocatalysis

Kefu Zhang; Yulan Han; Jun Qiu; Xiang Ding; Yongqi Deng; Yihan Wu; Guozhen Zhang; Lifeng Yan

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.10.057

Interface engineering of Ni/NiO heterostructures with abundant catalytic active sites for enhanced methanol oxidation electrocatalysis

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Jan 15;630(Pt B):570-579. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.10.057. Epub 2022 Oct 21.

Authors

Kefu Zhang¹, Yulan Han², Jun Qiu¹, Xiang Ding¹, Yongqi Deng¹, Yihan Wu¹, Guozhen Zhang³, Lifeng Yan⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Jinzhai Road 96, 230026 Anhui, PR China.
² School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT9 5AG, UK.
³ Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Jinzhai Road 96, 230026 Anhui, PR China. Electronic address: guozhen@ustc.edu.cn.
⁴ Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Jinzhai Road 96, 230026 Anhui, PR China. Electronic address: lfyan@ustc.edu.cn.

PMID: 36335776
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.10.057

Abstract

Designing efficient and stable non-noble metal electrocatalysts with good performance in reaction kinetics is desirable yet challenging for the study of methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). Herein, we have reported well-defined nanoscale nickel/nickel oxide (Ni/NiO) heterostructures supported by a three-dimensional (3D) porous graphene network (RG) via a delicate interface engineering technique. The as-prepared 3D Ni/NiO/RG composites achieve outstanding catalytic activity (79.5 mA cm^-2/1262.1 mA mg^-1) for MOR in alkaline solution, outperforming most reported non-precious catalysts. A combined experimental and computational investigation shows that such a good performance benefits from the specific Ni/NiO interface, which not only bears abundant accessible active sites but also improves the energetics of MOR. Moreover, this interface contributes to favorable kinetic and improved structural stability during electrocatalysis, ensuring superior catalytic performance after 1000 consecutive cyclic voltammetry tests for MOR. Our work demonstrates the potential of interface engineering in the rational design of efficient precious-metal-free electrocatalysts.

Keywords: Electrocatalysts; Heterostructures; Interface effect; Methanol oxidation reaction; Ni/NiO.