层状过渡金属氢氧化物应用于碱性氢气析出反应（英文）

氢气因为其高质量比活性,环境友好等特点,被公认为是一种很有希望替代化石能源的可再生能源.其中,碱性条件电解水被认为是可大规模生产氢气的技术之一.但氢气析出反应在碱性条件反应速率缓慢,为提升氢气析出反应速率,因此研究者们设计和制备了大量的材料.本文归纳了有效促进碱性条件氢气析出反应速率的关键材料--层状过渡金属氢氧化物的重要研究进展.首先,基于过渡金属氢氧化物的结构,阐述了过渡金属氢氧化物与氢气析出反应活性材料间的协同催化机理.接着,以提升协同催化作用为中心,归纳了基于过渡金属氢氧化物的氢气析出反应催化剂和电极的最近研究进展,分别包含过渡金属氢氧化物和氢气析出反应活性材料的种类、结构、形貌及其相互作用.此外,本文从高活性和长寿命的催化剂和电极设计出发,归纳了最近基于过渡金属氢氧化物的催化剂和电极在水分解领域的进展.最后,本文总结和展望了电解水制氢技术的未来应用和发展中不可避免的一些问题与挑战.目前,应用于氢析出反应的过渡金属氢氧化物主要集中于镍基、钴基和铁基氢氧化物和其双金属氢氧化物,为层状水滑石结构.因为上述过渡金属氢氧化物弱的氢吸附,所以其析氢活性非常低.但是过渡金属氢氧化物对氢氧根的吸附能力强,其与析氢活性材料复合后能形成协同作用,提升氢析出反应速率.具体而言,当水吸附在析氢活性材料和过渡金属氢氧化物的界面处时,水的氢原子端吸附在析氢活性材料侧,而水的另一端--氢氧根,吸附在过渡金属氢氧化物侧,这样的吸附方式对水的分解具有很强的剪切作用,从而加快碱性氢析出反应的决速步--水分子分解,加快析氢反应速率.为深入理解协同作用和进一步提升协同作用效果,研究者对过渡金属氢氧化物和对应的复合析氢活性材料的种类、结构、形貌和含量,进行了系统深入的研究.结果显示,氢氧化镍和氢氧化钴能明显促进氢析出反应,其中,氢氧化镍更具优势.此外,过渡金属氢氧化物具有较好氧析出活性,所以合适的过渡金属氢氧化物与析氢活性材料复合后,可制备氢析出反应和氧析出反应的双功能催化剂和电极.

Effect of composite supports on the methanation activity of Co-Mo-based sulphur-resistant catalysts

The effects of composite supports of CeO2-Al2O3, MgO-Al2O3, TiO2-Al2O3 or ZrO2-Al2O3 on the methanation activity of supported Co-Mo-based sulphur-resistant catalysts were investigated. The catalysts were further characterized by nitrogen adsorption measurement, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The catalyst of 5%CoO-15%MoO3 supported on CeO2-Al2O3, MgO-Al2O3, TiO2-Al2O3 or ZrO2-Al2O3 composite oxides, respectively, showed different catalytic performances of syngas methanation in the presence of hydrogen sulphide as compared with that of the 5%CoO-15%MoO3/Al2O3 catalyst. The Co-Mo/CeO2-Al2O3 catalyst shows the highest methanation activity among the tested catalysts. The enhanced methanation activity may be attributed to the improvement of the dispersion of active metal species and the inhibition of the formation of S6＋.

Gold-iridium bifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions

Carbon supported gold-iridium composite(Au Ir/C) was synthesized by a facile one-step process and was investigated as the bifunctional catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction(OER). The physical properties of the Au Ir/C composite were characterized by transmission electron microscopy(TEM), X-ray diffraction(XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). Although the Au and Ir in the Au Ir/C did not form alloy, it is clear that the introduction of Ir decreases the average Au particle size to 4.2 nm compared to that in the Au/C(10.1 nm). By systematical analysis on chemical state of metal surface via XPS and the electrochemical results, it was found that the Au surface for the Au/C can be activated by potential cycling from 0.12 V to 1.72 V, resulting in the increased surface roughness of Au,thus improving the ORR activity. By the same potential cycling, the Ir surface of the Ir/C was irreversibly oxidized, leading to degraded ORR activity but uninfluenced OER activity. For the Au Ir/C, Ir protects Au against being oxidized due to the lower electronegativity of Ir. Combining the advantages of Au and Ir in catalyzing ORR and OER, the Au Ir/C catalyst displays an enhanced catalytic activity to the ORR and a comparable OER activity. In the 50-cycle accelerated aging test for the ORR and OER, the Au Ir/C displayed a satisfied stability, suggesting that the Au Ir/C catalyst is a potential bifunctional catalyst for the oxygen electrode.

Porous carbon layers wrapped CoFe alloy for ultrastable Zn-Air batteries exceeding 20,000 charging-discharging cycles

Developing high active and stable bifunctional electrocatalysts towards oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)and oxygen evolution reaction(OER)is essential for the development of rechargeable Zn-air batteries.Herein,a facile strategy to synthesize the porous carbon layers wrapped CoFe alloy(C/CoFe)through the pyrolysis of a homogeneous mixture containing Co,Fe ions and N-doped carbon quantum dots(Ndoped CQDs)was reported.The prepared carbon layers with multi-level pore structures provides more active sites and optimizes the homogeneity of the electron and mass transport.In addition,the carbon layers,which is doped by Co/Fe/N atoms,is responsible for high ORR activity,while the CoFe alloy plays a vital role in OER performance.The as-synthesized catalyst exhibits an excellent bifunctionality for electrochemical oxygen reactions,which is comparable to the commercial Pt/C and IrO2 benchmarks.Owing to the carbon layers protects CoFe alloy nanoparticles from the harsh environment,the rechargeable Znair battery with the C/CoFe catalyst delivers excellent stability during 20,000 charging-discharging cycles.

Size-dependent catalytic activity of cobalt phosphides for hydrogen evolution reaction

Transition metal phosphides are a class of promising electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction(HER) to replace noble metals.In this work,we for the first time synthesize carbon supported CoP nanoparticles with the average particle sizes from 3.3 to 9.2 nm,via a solvothermal process followed by low-temperature topological phosphorization,and the size-dependent HER activity of the CoP is investigated by virtue of TEM,XRD,XPS and the electrochemical techniques.It is discovered that the 9.2nm-CoP particles possess high intrinsic HER catalytic activity as compared to the 3.3nm-CoP,although the smaller one displays a high mass activity due to the large surface area.Detailed studies manifest that the small CoP particles suffer from serious oxidation once exposing to air.In contrast,most cobalt remains in the quasi-metallic state in the relatively large CoP particles,which is beneficial for the desorption of Hads,the rate determining step of the HER process over CoP surface.In addition,the low charge transfer resistance across the liquid/solid interfaces also contributes to the excellent HER activity of the relatively large CoP particles.