Enhancing Electrocatalytic Kinetics via Synergy of Co Nanoparticles and Co/Ni-N4-C- and N-Doped Porous Carbon

Yalong Li; Xiaolong Xu; Zizheng Ai; Baoguo Zhang; Dong Shi; Mingzhi Yang; Haixiao Hu; Yongliang Shao; Yongzhong Wu; Xiaopeng Hao

doi:10.1021/acsami.4c00084

Enhancing Electrocatalytic Kinetics via Synergy of Co Nanoparticles and Co/Ni-N₄-C- and N-Doped Porous Carbon

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2024 May 15. doi: 10.1021/acsami.4c00084. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliation

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan 250353, China.

PMID: 38745464
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.4c00084

Abstract

Transition-metal species embedded in carbon have sparked intense interest in the fields of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). However, improvement of the electrocatalytic kinetics remains a challenge caused by the synergistic assembly. Here, we propose a biochemical strategy to fabricate the Co nanoparticles (NPs) and Co/Ni-N₄-C co-embedded N-doped porous carbon (CoNPs&Co/Ni-N₄-C@NC) catalysts via constructing the zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF)@yeast precursor. The rich amino groups provide the possibility for the anchorage of Co²⁺/Ni²⁺ ions as well as the construction of Co/Ni-ZIF@yeast through the yeast cell biomineralization effect. The functional design induces the formation of CoNPs and Co/Ni-N₄-C sites in N-doped carbon as well as regulates the porosity for exposing such sites. Synergy of CoNPs, Co/Ni-N₄-C, and porous N-doped carbon delivered excellent electrocatalytic kinetics (the ORR Tafel slope of 76.3 mV dec^-1 and the OER Tafel slope of 80.4 mV dec^-1) and a high voltage of 1.15 V at 10 mA cm^-2 for the discharge process in zinc air batteries. It provides an effective strategy to fabricate high-performance catalysts.

Keywords: biomineralization; electrocatalysts; electrocatalytic kinetics; synergy; zeolitic imidazolate framework.