Boron-Doped Activated Carbon Supports for Cobalt-Catalyzed Oxygen Evolution in Alkaline Electrolyte

Jae-Hyung Wee; Seoyoon Shin; Doo-Won Kim; Changho Lee; Yoong Ahm Kim; Moo Whan Shin; Ki Ro Yoon; Sang Young Yeo

doi:10.1021/acsami.2c21417

Boron-Doped Activated Carbon Supports for Cobalt-Catalyzed Oxygen Evolution in Alkaline Electrolyte

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 Apr 19;15(15):18771-18780. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c21417. Epub 2023 Apr 11.

Authors

Jae-Hyung Wee¹, Seoyoon Shin^{1

2

3}, Doo-Won Kim⁴, Changho Lee^{1

5}, Yoong Ahm Kim⁶, Moo Whan Shin², Ki Ro Yoon^{1

5}, Sang Young Yeo¹

Affiliations

¹ Advanced Textile R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, 143 Hanggaul-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan-si 15588, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.
² School of Integrated Technology, College of Engineering, Yonsei University, 85 Songdogwahak-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon 21983, Republic of Korea.
³ Hydrogen Energy Materials Center, Korea Institute of Ceramic Engineering and Technology, Gyeongsangnam-do, Jinju-si 52851, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Convergence R&D Division, Korea Carbon Industry Promotion Agency, 111 Biseognal-ro, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si 54852, Jeollabuk-do, Republic of Korea.
⁵ HYU-KITECH Joint Department, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea.
⁶ Department of Polymer Engineering, Graduate School, School of Polymer Science and Engineering & Alan G. MacDiarmid Energy Research Institute, Chonnam National University, 77 Yongbong-ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 61186, Republic of Korea.

PMID: 37039396
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c21417

Abstract

Activated carbons (ACs) are the most widely used and attractive support materials for electrocatalytic applications because of their significant surface areas, high electrical conductivities, and moderate affinities toward supported metal catalysts. However, the corrosive behavior of ACs at oxidative potentials causes an inevitable reduction in the active surface area of supported catalysts, resulting in the continuous deterioration of their electrocatalytic performance. Therefore, the introduction of corrosion-resistant durable catalyst supports is essential for sustainable and efficient electrocatalysis. Here, we modified ACs to obtain different boron (B)-doped structures via doping-temperature controls to investigate the corrosion resistance of B-doped ACs. With increasing doping temperature, the B-doped ACs exhibited a decreased defect density and enhanced crystallinity owing to the accelerating dopant-induced graphitization. We found that the substitution of B atoms into the carbon lattice improved the structural integrity of the carbon structure, and cyclic voltammetry (CV) tests suggested that the highly B-substituted structures caused electrochemical surface passivation against carbon corrosion. Moreover, B-doped ACs significantly contributed to the increase in loading mass of cobalt (Co)-based catalyst on them and the electrochemical durability toward the oxygen evolution reaction as catalyst-support hybrid. The B22 (B-doped AC obtained at a 2200 °C B-doping temperature)-supported Co catalyst with the lowest oxidation current exhibited a voltage change of 32 mV at a current density of 10 mA/cm² (ΔE_j=10) after 10,000 cycles, which was a factor of ∼7 higher cycle durability and stability than that of the conventional IrO₂ catalyst (ΔE_j=10 = 205 mV). Here, we propose that surface engineering by B-doping to improve the structural integrity of ACs is an attractive method for designing durable electrocatalytic support materials.

Keywords: boron doping; carbon-support material; electrocatalyst; oxidation resistance; oxygen evolution reaction.