Highly-efficient CoRuOx nanocatalysts for acidic oxygen evolution: The merit of optimum ordering degree of carbon nanotube support--颗粒学报PARTICUOLOGY

Li, W., Wang, Y., Zhao, Z., Liu, M., Liang, Q., Liu, Y., . . . Zhang, W. (2024). Highly-efficient CoRuOx nanocatalysts for acidic oxygen evolution: The merit of optimum ordering degree of carbon nanotube support. Particuology, 90, 470-477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2024.02.001

Highly-efficient CoRuO_x nanocatalysts for acidic oxygen evolution: The merit of optimum ordering degree of carbon nanotube support

Wenwen Li ^{a b}, Yanni Wang ^a, Zhenzhen Zhao ^a, Meiqi Liu ^a, Qing Liang ^a, Yuhua Liu^a, Fuxi Liu ^a, Zhou Jiang ^a, Xu Zou ^a *, Bingsen Zhang ^b *, Wei Zhang ^a *

a Key Laboratory of Automobile Materials MOE, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Jilin Provincial International Cooperation Key Laboratory of High-Efficiency Clean Energy Materials, Electron Microscopy Center, International Center of Future Science, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
b Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 110016, Shenyang, China

10.1016/j.partic.2024.02.001

Volume 90, July 2024, Pages 470-477

Received 12 January 2024, Revised 31 January 2024, Accepted 1 February 2024, Available online 6 February 2024, Version of Record 21 February 2024.

E-mail: zoux@jlu.edu.cn; bszhang@imr.ac.cn; weizhang@jlu.edu.cn

Highlights

• Electron transport rate of the catalyst was enhanced by modulating the ordering degree of CNTs.

• Electronic structure of the active site Ru was jointly optimized by the introduction of the transition metals Co and CNTs.

• CoRuO_x@CNTs-300 catalyst exhibited excellent acidic oxygen precipitation activity and stability.

Abstract

Hydrogen production from proton exchange membrane water electrolysis is constrained by the sluggish kinetics of the anodic oxygen evolution reaction. RuO₂ has attracted considerable attention due to its low reaction overpotential, but its inferior stability remains a major challenge. Herein, a strategy is proposed to enhance the catalytic activity and stability of CoRuO_x nanoparticles by doping Co and regulating the ordering degree of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by air annealing. It was found that the CoRuO_x@CNTs-300 catalyst exhibited the best catalytic activity and stability when the annealing temperature was 300 °C. At the current density of 10 mA cm⁻², the overpotential of this catalyst was only 201 mV, which was nearly 100 mV lower than that of commercial RuO₂ (300 mV). Surprisingly, there was no significant increase in the overpotential when tested at a current density of 10 mA cm⁻² for 50 h. The density functional theory calculations indicate that the high activity of the catalyst is due to the electronic coupling of CoRuO_x nanoparticles and CNTs, and that the introduction of Co and CNTs improves the electronic structure and solvation energies of the Ru in the active site, dramatically increasing the structural stability.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Electrocatalysis; RuO₂; CNTs; Oxygen evolution reaction

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