Healing the structural defects of spinel MnFe_(2)O_(4) to enhance the electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction

Spinel metal oxides containing Mn,Co,or Fe(AB_(2)O_(4),A/B=Mn/Fe/Co)are one of the most promising nonPt electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)in alkaline conditions.However,the low conductivity of metal oxides and the poor intrinsic activities of transition metal sites lead to unsatisfactory ORR performance.In this study,eutectic molten salt(EMS)treatment is employed to reconstruct the atomic arrangement of MnFe_(2)O_(4)electrocatalyst as a prototype for enhancing ORR performance.Comprehensive analyses by using XAFS,soft XAS,XPS,and electrochemical methods reveal that the EMS treatment reduces the oxygen vacancies and spinel inverse in MnFe_(2)O_(4)effectively,which improves the electric conductivity and increases the population of more catalytically active Mn^(2+)sites with tetrahedral coordination.Moreover,the enhanced Mn-O interaction after EMS treatment is conducive to the adsorption and activation of O_(2),which promotes the first electron transfer step(generally considered as the ratedetermining step)of the ORR process.As a result,the EMS treated MnFe_(2)O_(4)catalyst delivers a positive shift of 40 mV in the ORR half-wave potential and a two-fold enhanced mass/specific activity.This work provides a convenient approach to manipulate the atomic architecture and local electronic structure of spinel oxides as ORR electrocatalysts and a comprehensive understanding of the structureperformance relationship from the molecular/atomic scale.

Fe,N,S-doped porous carbon as oxygen reduction reaction catalyst in acidic medium with high activity and durability synthesized using CaCl_2 as template

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells suffer from the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)and the high cost of Pt catalysts.In the present work,a high‐performance ORR catalystbased on Fe,N,S‐doped porous carbon(FeNS‐PC)was synthesized using melamine formaldehyderesin as C and N precursors,Fe(SCN)3as Fe and S precursors,and CaCl2as a template via a two‐stepheat treatment without a harsh template removal step.The results show that the catalyst treated at900℃(FeNS‐PC‐900)had a high surface area of775m2/g,a high mass activity of10.2A/g in anacidic medium,and excellent durability;the half‐wave potential decreased by only20mV after10000potential cycles.The FeNS‐PC‐900catalyst was used as the cathode in a proton exchangemembrane fuel cell and delivered a peak power density of0.49W/cm2.FeNS‐PC‐900therefore hasgood potential for use in practical applications.

A robust interphase via in-situ pre-reconfiguring lithium anode surface for long-term lithium-oxygen batteries

Lithium-oxygen(Li-O) battery is considered as one of the most promising alternatives because of its ultrahigh theoretical energy density. However, their cycling stability is severely restricted by the uncontrollable dendrite growth and serious oxygen corrosion issue on Li surface. Herein, a sulfur-modified Li surface can be successfully constructed via chemical reaction of guanylthiourea(GTU) molecule on Li,which can induce the selectively fast decomposition of lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide(LiTFSI) to form a smooth and stable inorganics-rich solid-electrolyte interphase(IR-SEI) during the subsequent electrochemical process. Such an IR-SEI cannot only offer a highly reversible and stable Li plating/stripping chemistry with dendrite-free property(10 mA cm^(-2)-10 mAh cm^(-2), > 0.5 years;3 mA cm^(-2)-3 m Ah cm^(-2), > 1 year) but also endows the Li metal an anti-oxygen corrosion function, thereby significantly improving the cycling stability of Li-Obatteries. This work provides a new idea for constructing functional solid-electrolyte interphase(SEI) to achieve highly stable Li metal anode.

Ultrathin oxygen-containing graphdiyne wrapping CoP for enhanced electrocatalytic hydrogen generation

Graphdiyne(GDY)is fascinating in the construction of efficient and stable catalysts,but their performance is still somewhat restricted due to GDY’s thicker layers,as well as hydrophobic and relatively chemically inert surfaces.Herein,via oxidationexfoliation-reduction strategy,the self-supported electrode material of CoP nanosheets with ultrathin oxygen-containing GDY wrapping(CoP@RGDYO)for effective HER is constructed.The wrapping of ultrathin oxygen-containing GDY promotes charge transfer,improves the surface property,and enhances the acid and alkali resistance as well as the structural stability of the catalyst.As a result,CoP@RGDYO shows enhanced activity and stability in both acidic and alkaline media.Especially,it exhibits a low overpotential of 86 mV and exceptional stability under a 14000-cycle cyclic voltammetry scanning in alkaline media.This work provides new ideas for the design of GDY hybrid materials and the preparation of high-efficiency catalysts.

Surface composition-tunable octahedral PtCu nanoalloys advance the electrocatalytic performance on methanol and ethanol oxidation

The synthesis of surface composition-tunable Pt-based octahedral nanoalloys is key to unravel the structureproperty relationship in fuel cells. Herein, we report a facile route to prepare composition-tunable Pt Cu octahedral nanoalloys by using halogen ions(Br-or/and I-) as composition modulators. Among these Pt Cu octahedral nanoalloys,Pt59 Cu41 octahedron exhibits the highest catalytic activity and durability in alkaline solution. The specific activity/mass activity of Pt59 Cu41 octahedron is 20.25 m A cm^-2/3.24 A mg^-1 Pt,which is 6.64/5.3 times higher than commercial Pt black in 0.5 mol L^-1 CH3 OH, respectively. In the case of using ethanol(0.5 mol L^-1) as fuel source, Pt59 Cu41 octahedron shows much better catalytic activity, that is 34.84 m A cm^-2/5.58 A mg^-1 Pt for specific activity/mass activity, which is 9.16/7.34 times higher than commercial Pt black, respectively. In situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy is employed to detect the intermediate species and products for methanol/ethanol oxidation reaction and a plausible mechanism is proposed to explain the improved activity and durability of Pt59 Cu41 octahedron toward methanol/ethanol oxidation in alkaline medium.

Abnormal infrared effects of nanometer scale thin film material of PtPd alloy in CO adsorption

Nanometer scale thin film material of PtPd alloy supported on glassy carbon (nm-PtPd/GC) was prepared by the electrochemical codeposition method under cyclic voltammetric conditions. STM patterns demonstrated that the prepared thin films are composed of layered crystallites in elliptic form. Electrochemical in situ FTIRS studies explored the abnormal infrared effects (AIREs) of nm-PtPd/GC for CO adsorption, which are (i) the remarkable enhancement of IR absorption, (ii) the inversion of COad band direction, and (iii) notable increase in the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of COad bands. The results demonstrated also that the enhancement factor of IR absorption varies with the thickness of PtPd alloy film and has reached a maximum value of 38.3 under the experimental conditions.

Overpotential-dependent shape evolution of gold nanocrystals grown in a deep eutectic solvent

This paper reports an overpotential-dependent shape evolution of gold nano-crystals （Au NCs） in a choline chloride-urea （ChCl-urea） based deep eutectic solvent （DES）. It was found that the growth overpotentials play a key role in tuning the shape of Au NCs. The shape evolution of Au NCs successively from concave rhombic dodecahedra （RD） to concave cubes, octopods, cuboctahedral boxes, and finally, to hollow octahedra （OH） was achieved by carefully controlling the growth overpotentials in the range from -0.50 to -0.95 V （vs. Pt quasi-reference electrode）. In addition, the presence of urea was important in the shape evolution of Au NCs. The surface structure of the as-prepared Au NCs was comprehensively characterized by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, transmission electron microscopy （TEM） and electrochemical studies. It was demonstrated that the electrocatalytic activity of the as-prepared Au NCs for D-glucose electrooxidation was sensitively dependent on their morphologies. The results illustrated that the dehydrogenated glucose adsorbed on concave RD and concave cubic Au NCs was preferentially transformed to gluconolactone at low electrode potentials. Subsequent gluconolactone oxidation occurred favorably on octopods with {111}-truncated arms and hollow OH at high electrode potential. This study opens up a new approach to develop the surface-structure-controlled growth of Au NCs by combining DES with electrochemical techniques. In addition, it is significant for the tuning of the electrocatalytic properties of NCs.

Controllable CO adsorption determines ethylene and methane productions from CO_(2) electroreduction

Among all CO2 electroreduction products,methane(CH4)and ethylene(C_(2)H_(4))are two typical and valuable hydrocarbon products which are formed in two different pathways:hydrogenation and dimerization reactions of the same CO intermediate.Theoretical studies show that the adsorption configurations of CO intermediate determine the reaction pathways towards CH4/C_(2)H_(4).However,it is challenging to experimentally control the CO adsorption configurations at the catalyst surface,and thus the hydrocarbon selectivity is still limited.Herein,we seek to synthesize two well-defined copper nanocatalysts with controllable surface structures.The two model catalysts exhibit a high hydrocarbon selectivity toward either CH4(83%)or C_(2)H_(4)(93%)under identical reduction conditions.Scanning transmission electron microscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy characterizations reveal the low-coordination Cu^(0)sites and local Cu^(0)/Cu^(+)sites of the two catalysts,respectively.CO-temperature programed desorption,in-situ attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and density functional theory studies unveil that the bridge-adsorbed CO(CO_(B))on the low-coordination Cu^(0)sites is apt to be hydrogenated to CH4,whereas the bridge-adsorbed CO plus linear-adsorbed CO(CO_(B)+CO_(L))on the local Cu^(0)/Cu^(+)sites are apt to be coupled to C_(2)H_(4).Our findings pave a new way to design catalysts with controllable CO adsorption configurations for high hydrocarbon product selectivity.

Study of pyrolyzed hemin/C as non-platinum cathodic catalyst for direct methanol fuel cells

Biological reduction of O2 to H2O justifies a serious look at heme as a potential O2 reduction reaction(ORR) catalyst for low temperature fuel cells.In this study,a novel non-platinum electrocatalyst for ORR was prepared through hemin,which is hydrochloride of heme,supported on Black Pearls 2000 carbon black(Hm-BP) pyrolyzed at 700-900℃ in Ar atmosphere.The physical and electrocatalytic properties of as-prepared catalysts were characterized by TGA,XRD,XPS,TEM,rotating disk electrode(RDE) and rotating ring disk electrode(RRDE).It has found that the catalyst treated at 750℃(Hm-BP-750) exhibits the best property among the Hm-BP catalysts prepared.The onset potential of ORR on the Hm-BP-750 at 30℃ was measured ca.0.90 V(vs.RHE) in 0.1 M H2SO4,and mass current density was reached 15.3 mA mg-1 at 0.75 V.It has revealed that O2 could be reduced directly to water in a 4e process between 0.9 and 0.83V,and the yield of H2O2 was 0-18% in the potential range of 0.83-0.63 V.This methanol-tolerant catalyst also presents excellent stability in medium-term test of direct methanol fuel cell at 80℃.

Microscope in situ FTIRS studies of CO adsorption on an array of platinum micro-electrodes

An array of platinum microelectrodes was designed and fabricated. The adsorption of CO on such a Pt microelectrode (μ-Pt) was investigated by employing microscope in situ FTIR spectroscopy. A nanostructured film is formed at the surface of μ-Pt (denoted as μ-Pt(R)) when it has been subjected to a treatment of fast potential cycling. Abnormal infrared effects (AIREs) were observed in CO adsorption on the surface of μ-Pt(R), consisting of the inversion of the IR bipolar CO band and the extensively enhanced IR adsorption of COad species.