Conductive bimetal organic framework nanorods decorated with highly dispersed Co3O4nanoparticles as bi-functional electrocatalyst

Yaxin Duan; Haitao Liu; Huabing Zhang; Shaojie Ke; Shuaize Wang; Meiling Dou; Feng Wang

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/ac3d66

Conductive bimetal organic framework nanorods decorated with highly dispersed Co₃O₄nanoparticles as bi-functional electrocatalyst

Nanotechnology. 2022 Jan 12;33(14). doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac3d66.

Authors

Yaxin Duan¹, Haitao Liu¹, Huabing Zhang², Shaojie Ke¹, Shuaize Wang¹, Meiling Dou¹, Feng Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Laboratory of Electrochemical Process and Technology for materials, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, People's Republic of China.
² School of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Panzhihua University, Panzhihua 617000, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 34823231
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac3d66

Abstract

The poor electronic conductivity and low intrinsic electrocatalytic activity of metal organic frameworks (MOFs) greatly limit their direct application in electrocatalytic reactions. Herein, we report a conductive two-dimensionalπ-dconjugated Ni and Co bimetal organic framework (MOF)-NiCo-(2,3,6,7,10,11-hexaiminotriphenylene) (NiCo-HITP) nanorods decorated with highly dispersed Co₃O₄nanoparticles (NPs) as a promising bi-functional electrocatalyst towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) through an effective and facile strategy by modifying the rod-shaped -Ni₃HITP₂crystals using cobalt ions. The triggered electrocatalytic activity of the resulting MOF-based materials was achieved by increasing the electrical conductivity (7.23 S cm^-1) originated from Ni₃HITP₂substrate and also by creating the cooperative catalysis sites of Co-N_xand Co₃O₄NPs. Optimized syntheses show a promising ORR activity with a high half-wave potential (0.77 V) and also a significantly improved OER activity compared with pure Ni₃HITP₂in alkaline electrolyte. Furthermore, a rechargeable Zn-air battery using the as-prepared material as air-cathode also shows a high power density (143.1 mW cm^-2)-even comparable to a commercial Pt/C-RuO₂-based battery. This methodology offers a new prospect in the design and synthesis of non-carbonized MOF bi-functional electrocatalysts for efficient catalysis towards ORR and OER.

Keywords: Co3O4 nanoparticles; Ni and Co bimetal organic framework; high electrical conductivity; non-precious metal electrocatalyst; oxygen reduction reaction.