Series Reports from Professor Wei's Group of Chongqing University:Advancements in Electrochemical Energy Conversions(1/4):Report 1:High-performance Oxygen Reduction Catalysts for Fuel Cells

Two major challenges,high cost and short lifespan,have been hindering the commercialization process of lowtemperature fuel cells.Professor Wei's group has been focusing on decreasing cathode Pt loadings without losses of activity and durability,and their research advances in this area over the past three decades are briefly reviewed herein.Regarding the Pt-based catalysts and the low Pt usage,they have firstly tried to clarify the degradation mechanism of Pt/C catalysts,and then demonstrated that the activity and stability could be improved by three strategies:regulating the nanostructures of the active sites,enhancing the effects of support materials,and optimizing structures of the three-phase boundary.For Pt-free catalysts,especialiy carbon-based ones,several strategies that they proposed to enhance the activity of nitrogen-/heteroatom-doped carbon catalysts are firstly presented.Then,an indepth understanding of the degradation mechanism for carbon-based catalysts is discussed,and followed by the corresponding stability enhancement strategies.Also,the carbon-based electrode at the micrometer-scale,faces the challenges such as low active-site density,thick catalytic layer,and the effect of hydrogen peroxide,which require rational structure design for the integral cathodic electrode.This review finally gives a brief conclusion and outlook about the low cost and long lifespan of cathodic oxygen reduction catalysts.

Cu single-atom electrocatalyst on nitrogen-containing graphdiyne for CO_(2) electroreduction to CH_(4)

Developing Cu single-atom catalysts(SACs)with well-defined active sites is highly desirable for producing CH4 in the electrochemical CO_(2) reduction reaction and understanding the structure-property relationship.Herein,a new graphdiyne analogue with uniformly distributed N_(2)-bidentate(note that N_(2)-bidentate site=N^N-bidentate site;N_(2)≠dinitrogen gas in this work)sites are synthesized.Due to the strong interaction between Cu and the N_(2)-bidentate site,a Cu SAC with isolated undercoordinated Cu-N_(2) sites(Cu1.0/N_(2)-GDY)is obtained,with the Cu loading of 1.0 wt%.Cu1.0/N_(2)-GDY exhibits the highest Faradaic efficiency(FE)of 80.6% for CH_(4) in electrocatalytic reduction of CO_(2) at-0.96 V vs.RHE,and the partial current density of CH_(4) is 160 mA cm^(-2).The selectivity for CH_(4) is maintained above 70% when the total current density is 100 to 300 mA cm^(-2).More remarkably,the Cu1.0/N_(2)-GDY achieves a mass activity of 53.2 A/mgCu toward CH4 under-1.18 V vs.RHE.In situ electrochemical spectroscopic studies reveal that undercoordinated Cu-N_(2) sites are more favorable in generating key ^(*)COOH and ^(*)CHO intermediate than Cu nanoparticle counterparts.This work provides an effective pathway to produce SACs with undercoordinated Metal-N_(2) sites toward efficient electrocatalysis.

Mechano-chemical sulfidization of zinc oxide by grinding with sulfur and reductive additives

A novel process for sulfidation of ZnO by co-grinding with sulfur and reductive additives （P, Fe, A1, and Mg） was developed. The sulfidation extent of ZnO with the addition of P, Fe, A1 or Mg can reach 85.2%, 81.6%, 96.7% and 92.6% after grinding for 4, 6, 1 and 1 h, respectively. Based on the chemical phase composition analysis and morphological characteristics of sulfidized products by XRD, SEM and TEM, a possible reaction mechanism, mechanically induced self-propagating reaction （MSR）, was proposed to explain the sulfidization reaction. In addition, the floatability of sulfidized products was investigated for the recovery of metal sulfide and ZnS can be concentrated with a high concentration ratio and concentrate grade. By using the sulfidizing process, it is expected that the recovery of zinc from the wastes or purification of heavy-metal-containing hazardous residues is technically feasible.

Methanol Tolerant Non-noble Metal Co-C-N Catalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction Using Urea as Nitrogen Source

A non-noble metal oxygen reduction reaction （ORR） catalyst labeled as Co-C-N（800） was synthesized by heat-treating a mixture of urea, cobalt chloride and acetylene black for 2 h at 800 ℃ in an inert nitrogen atmosphere. X-ray diffraction pattern indicates that a metallic β-Co is generated after the heat-treating process. The results from cyclic voltammograms show that the obtained Co-C-N（800） catalyst has good ORR catalytic activity in 0.5 mol/L H2SO4 solution. The catalyst is also good at methanol tolerance and stability in the acidic solution.

Preparation of Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Catalyst to Oxygen Reduction Reaction and Influence of Protective Gas Flowing on Its Activity

A non-precious metal catalyst MnHMTA/C to oxygen reduction reaction was prepared by py- rolyzing a precursor from manganese chloride, hexamethylenetetramine and acetylene black in nitrogen gas atmosphere. The effect of heat treatment temperature and flowing of nitrogen gas were investigated. A catalyst with the highest activity can be obtained at 700 ℃. Mn（Ⅱ） ion was changed to MnO in heat treatment, which improved the catalytic activity of the catalyst. Hexamethylenetetramine takes part in the formation of active site of the catalyst as its decomposed gases. The flowing of protective gas takes the decomposed gases out of the tube furnace and brings negative effect on the catalytic activity of the MnHMTA/C catalyst.

Co_3O_4 supported on N,P-doped carbon as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions

Noble metals, such as platinum, ruthenium and iridium‐group metals, are often used as oxygen reduction or evolution reaction （ORR/OER） electrocatalysts. To reduce the cost and provide an application of bifunctional catalysis, in this work, cobalt oxide supported on nitrogen and phospho‐rus co‐doped carbon （Co3O4/NPC） was fabricated and examined as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for OER and ORR. To prepare Co3O4/NPC, NPC was pyrolyzed from melamine and phytic acid support‐ed on carbon, followed by the solvothermal synthesis of Co3O4 on NPC. Linear sweep voltammetry was used to evaluate the activity for OER and ORR. For OER, Co3O4/NPC showed an onset potential of 0.54 V （versus the saturated calomel electrode） and a current density of 21.95 mA/cm2 at 0.80 V, which was better than both Co3O4/C and NPC. The high activity of Co3O4/NPC was attributed to a synergistic effect of the N, P co‐dopants and Co3O4. For ORR, Co3O4/NPC exhibited an activity close to commercial Pt/C in terms of the diffusion limited current density （–4.49 vs–4.76 mA/cm2 at–0.80 V）, and Co3O4 played the key role for the catalysis. Chronoamperometry （current versus time） was used to evaluate the stability, which showed that Co3O4/NPC maintained 46%current after the chronoamperometry test for OER and 95% current for ORR. Overall, Co3O4/NPC exhibited high activity and improved stability for both OER and ORR.

Preparation of nitrogen-doped carbon nanoblocks with high electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline solution

The oxygen reduction reaction （ORR） is traditionally performed using noble‐metals catalysts, e.g. Pt. However, these metal‐based catalysts have the drawbacks of high costs, low selectivity, poor stabili‐ties, and detrimental environmental effects. Here, we describe metal‐free nitrogen‐doped carbon nanoblocks （NCNBs） with high nitrogen contents （4.11%）, which have good electrocatalytic proper‐ties for ORRs. This material was fabricated using a scalable, one‐step process involving the pyrolysis of tris（hydroxymethyl）aminomethane （Tris） at 800℃. Rotating ring disk electrode measurements show that the NCNBs give a high electrocatalytic performance and have good stability in ORRs. The onset potential of the catalyst for the ORR is-0.05 V （vs Ag/AgCl）, the ORR reduction peak potential is-0.20 V （vs Ag/AgCl）, and the electron transfer number is 3.4. The NCNBs showed pronounced electrocatalytic activity, improved long‐term stability, and better tolerance of the methanol crosso‐ver effect compared with a commercial 20 wt%Pt/C catalyst. The composition and structure of, and nitrogen species in, the NCNBs were investigated using Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X‐ray diffraction. The pyroly‐sis of Tris at high temperature increases the number of active nitrogen sites, especially pyridinic nitrogen, which creates a net positive charge on adjacent carbon atoms, and the high positive charge promotes oxygen adsorption and reduction. The results show that NCNBs prepared by pyrolysis of Tris as nitrogen and carbon sources are a promising ORR catalyst for fuel cells.

Ho-modified Mn-Ce/TiO_2 for low-temperature SCR of NO_x with NH_3:Evaluation and characterization

Low‐temperature selective catalytic reduction(SCR)of NO with NH3 was tested over Ho‐doped Mn–Ce/TiO2 catalysts prepared by the impregnation method.The obtained catalysts with different Ho doping ratios were characterized by Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller(BET),X‐ray diffraction(XRD),temperature‐programmed reduction(H2‐TPR),temperature‐programmed desorption of NH3(NH3‐TPD),X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),and scanning electron microscopy(SEM).The catalytic activities were tested on a fixed bed.Their results indicated that the proper doping amount of Ho could effectively improve the low‐temperature denitrification performance and the SO2 resistance of Mn–Ce/TiO2 catalyst.The catalyst with Ho/Ti of 0.1 presented excellent catalytic activity,with a conversion of more than 90%in the temperature window of 140–220°C.The characterization results showed that the improved SCR activity of the Mn–Ce/TiO2 catalyst caused by Ho doping was due to the increase of the specific surface area,higher concentration of chemisorbed oxygen,higher surface Mn4+/Mn3+ratio,and higher acidity.The SO2 resistance test showed that the deactivating influence of SO2 on the catalyst was irreversible.The XRD and XPS results showed that the main reason for the catalyst deactivation was sulfates that had formed on the catalyst surface and that Ho doping could inhibit the sulfation to some extent.

La_(1-x)Ca_xMn_(1-y)Al_yO_3 perovskites as efficient catalysts for two-step thermochemical water splitting in conjunction with exceptional hydrogen yields

Solar‐driven thermochemical water splitting represents one efficient route to the generation of H2as a clean and renewable fuel.Due to their outstanding catalytic abilities and promising solar fuel production capacities,perovskite‐type redox catalysts have attracted significant attention in this regard.In the present study,the perovskite series La1‐xCaxMn1‐yAlyO3(x,y=0.2,0.4,0.6,or0.8)was fabricated using a modified Pechini method and comprehensively investigated to determine the applicability of these materials to solar H2production via two‐step thermochemical water splitting.The thermochemical redox behaviors of these perovskites were optimized by doping at either the A(Ca)or B(Al)sites over a broad range of substitution values,from0.2to0.8.Through this doping,a highly efficient perovskite(La0.6Ca0.4Mn0.6Al0.4O3)was developed,which yielded a remarkable H2production rate of429μmol/g during two‐step thermochemical H2O splitting,going between1400and1000°C.Moreover,the performance of the optimized perovskite was found to be eight times higher than that of the benchmark catalyst CeO2under the same experimental conditions.Furthermore,these perovskites also showed impressive catalytic stability during two‐step thermochemical cycling tests.These newly developed La1‐xCaxMn1‐yAlyO3redox catalysts appear to have great potential for future practical applications in thermochemical solar fuel production.

A high performance non-noble metal electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction derived from a metal organic framework

The development of a non-precious metal electrocatalyst （NPME） with a performance superior to commercial Pt/C for the oxygen reduction reaction （ORR） is important for the commercialization of fuel cells. We report the synthesis of a NPME by heat-treating Co-based metal organic frameworks （ZIF-67） with a small average size of 44 nm. The electrocatalyst pyrolyzed at 600 ~C showed the best performance and the performance was enhanced when it was supported on BP 2000. The resulting electrocatalyst was composed of 10 nm Co nanoparticles coated by 3-12 layers of N doped graphite layers which as a whole was embedded in a carbon matrix. The ORR performance of the electrocatalyst was tested by rotating disk electrode tests in O2-saturated 0.1 mol/L KOH under ambient conditions. The electrocatalyst （1.0 mg/cm~] showed an onset potential of 1.017 V （[vs. RHE] and a half-wave potential of 0.857 V （vs. RHE], which showed it was as good as the commer- cial Pt/C （20 BgPt/cm2）. Furthermore, the electrocatalyst possessed much better stability and re- sistance to methanol crossover than Pt/C.

P-doped mesoporous carbons for high-efficiency electrocatalytic oxygen reduction

Chemically modified carbonaceous materials have attained utmost attention in the fields of renewable energy storage and conversion,due to the controllable physicochemical properties,tailorable micro-/nanostructures,and respectable stability.Herein,P-doped mesoporous carbons were synthesized by using F127 as the soft template,organophosphonic acid as the P source and phenolic resin as the carbon source.Small amounts of iron species were introduced to act as a graphitization catalyst.The synthesized carbons exhibit the well-defined wormhole-like pore structure featuring high specific surface area and homogenously doped P heteroatoms.Notably,introducing iron species during the synthesis process can optimize the textural properties and the degree of graphitization of carbon materials.The doping amount of P has an important effect on the porous structure and the defect degree,which correspondingly influence the active sites and the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)activity.The resultant material presents superior catalytic activity for the ORR,together with remarkably enhanced durability and methanol tolerance in comparison with the commercial Platinum catalyst,demonstrating the possibility for its use in electrode materials and electronic nanodevices for metal-air batteries and fuel cells.

Electrocatalytic generation of hydrogen peroxide on cobalt nanoparticles embedded in nitrogen-doped carbon

Electrocatalytic reduction of oxygen is a growing synthetic technique for the sustainable production of hydrogen peroxide(H_(2)O_(2)).The current challenges concern seeking low-cost,highly active,and selective electrocatalysts.Cobalt-nitrogen-doped carbon containing catalytically active cobalt-nitrogen(Co-N_(x))sites is an emerging class of materials that can promote the electrochemical generation of H_(2)O_(2).Here,we report a straightforward method for the preparation of cobalt-nitrogen-doped carbon composed of a number of Co-N_(x)moieties using low-energy dry-state ball milling,followed by controlled pyrolysis.This scalable method uses inexpensive materials containing cobalt acetate,2-methylimidazole,and Ketjenblack EC-600JD as the metal,nitrogen,and carbon precursors,respectively.Electrochemical measurements in an acidic medium show the present material exhibits a significant increase in the oxygen reduction reaction current density,accompanied by shifting the onset potential into the positive direction.The current catalyst has also demonstrated an approximate 90%selectivity towards H_(2)O_(2)across a wide range of potential.The H_(2)O_(2)production rate,as measured by H_(2)O_(2)bulk electrolysis,has reached 100 mmol g_(cat).^(–1)h^(–1)with high H_(2)O_(2)faradaic efficiency close to 85%(for 2 h at 0.3 V vs.RHE).Lastly,the catalyst durability has been tested(for 6 h at 0.3 V vs.RHE).The catalyst has shown relatively consistent performance,while the overall faradic efficiency reaches approximate 85%throughout the test cycle indicating the promising catalyst durability for practical applications.The formed Co-N_(x)moieties,along with other parameters,including the acidic environment and the applied potential,likely are the primary reasons for such high activity and selectivity to H_(2)O_(2)production.

Bifunctional electrocatalysts for rechargeable Zn-air batteries

Zn-air batteries have attracted extensive attention for their unique features including high energy density,safety,low cost and environmental friendliness.However,due to their poor chargeability and low efficiency,the practical application remains a challenge.The main obstacles are the intrinsic slow reaction kinetics on air cathodes,including oxygen reduction reaction during the discharging process and oxygen evolution reaction during the recharging process.Searching for efficient bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts is key to solve these problems.In this review,the configuration and fundamental oxygen electrochemical reactions on air cathodes are briefly introduced for Zn-air batteries first.Then,the latest bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts are summarized in detail.Finally,the perspectives are provided for the future investigations on bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts.

An effective FeCl_3 template assisted synthesis of nitrogen, sulfur and iron-tridoped carbon nanosheets from a protic salt for oxygen reduction electrocatalysis

Doping heteroatoms into carbon matrix was an efficient strategy to achieve a high-performance non-precious metal oxygen reduction electrocatalyst. Herein, an in situ templated synthesis strategy has been demonstrated to fabricate nitrogen, sulfur and iron-tridoped mesoporous carbon nanosheets（NSFC） with FeCl3 as the two-dimensional template. And a protic salt was used as the carbon, nitrogen and sulfur source, which realized one-step preparation of catalyst materials and the co-doping of various heteroatoms simultaneously. As a result, the optimized NSFC catalyst possessed comparable catalytic activity and selectivity, while superior durability and methanol permeability resistance to commercial 30 wt% Pt/C catalyst in alkaline media. Such excellent performance should be ascribed to the efficient multiple-element doping into the large-specific-surface-area and highly stable carbon nanosheets realized by the in situ synthesis route with a novel FeCl3 template.

Two-in-one strategy to construct bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts for rechargeable Zn-air battery

Integrating two different catalytic active sites into one composite is a useful 2-in-1 strategy for designing high-efficient bifunctional catalysts,which can easily tailor the activity of each reaction.Hence,we adopt the 2-in-1 strategy to design the metal oxyhydroxide supported on N-doped porous carbons(PA-CoFe@NPC)as the oxygen bifunctional catalyst,where NPC provides the activity for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)while the metal oxyhydroxide is responsible for oxygen evolution reaction(OER).Results demonstrate that the PA-CoFe@NPC indeed exhibits both super ORR and OER activities.Impressively,using bifunctional PA-CoFe@NPC as the oxygen electrode,the resulting Zn-air battery exhibits outstanding charge and discharge performance with the peak power density of 156.3 mW cm^(-2),and also exhibits a long-term cycle stability with continuous cyclic charge and discharge of 170 hours that is obviously better than the 20%Pt/C+IrO_(2)based one.The 2-in-1 strategy in this work can be efficiently extended to design other bi-or multi-functional electrocatalysts.

Phosphonate-derived nitrogen-doped cobalt phosphate/carbon nanotube hybrids as highly active oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalysts

The exploration of cost-effective non-noble-metal electrocatalysts is highly imperative to replace the state-of-the-art platinum-based catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR). Here, we prepared cobalt phosphonate-derived N-doped cobalt phosphate/carbon nanotube hybrids(Co Pi C-N/CNTs) by hydrothermal treatment of N-containing cobalt phosphonate and oxidized carbon nanotubes(o-CNT) followed by high-temperature calcination under nitrogen atmosphere. The resultant Co Pi C-N/CNT exhibits a superior electrocatalytic performance for the ORR in alkaline media, which is equal to the commercial Pt/C catalyst in the aspect of half-wave potential, onset potential and diffuse limiting current density. Furthermore, the excellent tolerance to methanol and strong durability outperform those of commercial Pt/C. It is found that cobalt phosphonate-derived N-doped cobalt phosphate and the in-situ formed graphitic carbons play key roles on the activity enhancement. Besides, introducing a suitable amount of CNTs enhances the electronic conductivity and further contributes to the improved ORR performance.

Ni-mediated Liquid Phase Reduction of Carbonyl Compounds in the Presence of Atmospheric Hydrogen

An efficient reduction system of benzaldehyde with hydrogen under ambient pressure was developed using facile NiO catalyst. The non-aromatic solvents such as cyclohexane, tetrahydrofuran (THF) and n-hexane, and the addi-tive with strong basicity e.g. KOH, were necessary for smooth conversion of the substrate. That the catalyst can be recov-ered and reused for nine times without loss of catalytic activity indicates that this catalyst is a recyclable one for benzal-dehyde reduction.

Fe/N-doped mesoporous carbons derived from soybeans: A highly efficient and low-cost non-precious metal catalyst for ORR

Oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)plays a crucial role in many energy storage and conversion devices.Currently,the development of inexpensive and high-performance carbon-based non-precious-metal ORR catalysts in alkaline media still gains a wide attention.In this paper,the mesoporous Fe-N/C catalysts were synthesized through SiO2-mediated templating method using biomass soybeans as the nitrogen and carbon sources.The SiO2 templates create a simultaneous optimization of both the surface functionalities and porous structures of Fe-N/C catalysts.Detailed investigations indicate that the Fe-N/C3 catalyst prepared with the mass ratio of SiO2 to soybean being 3:4 exhibits brilliant electrocatalytic performance,excellent long-term stability and methanol tolerance for the ORR,with the onset potential and the half-wave potential of the ORR being about 0.890 V and 0.783 V(vs RHE),respectively.Meanwhile,the desired 4-electron transfer pathway of the ORR on the catalysts can be observed.It is significantly proposed that the high BET specific surface area and the appropriate pore-size,as well as the high pyridinic-N and total nitrogen loadings may play key roles in enhancing the ORR performance for the Fe-N/C3 catalyst.These results suggest a feasible route based on the economical and sustainable soybean biomass to develop inexpensive and highly efficient non-precious metal electrochemical catalysts for the ORR.

Rare earth metals modified Ni-S2O8^2-/ZrO2-Al2O3 catalysts for n-pentane isomerization

The effects of adding rare earth(RE) metals,such as Ce,Yb and Pr to Ni-S_2O_8^(2-)/ZrO_2-Al_2O_3(Ni-SZA) on the structure of catalysts as well as their isomerization performance were studied.The prepared catalysts were characterized by XRD,BET,FT-IR,Py-IR,and H_2-TPR,The results showed that the addition of RE metals can increase the strength and amounts of the acid sites,improve the redox properties of catalysts.The Yb-Ni-SZA catalyst showed the best redox properties,which could provide enough metallic sites.In addition,it provided the largest amounts of weak and moderately strong acid sites.Among RE metals modified Ni-SZA catalyst,Yb-Ni-SZA exhibited the highest isopentane yield of 61.7%at 160 °C.The optimum isomerization catalytic performance of the catalysts decreased in the order of Yb-Ni-SZA > Pr-Ni-SZA > Ni-SZA > Ce-Ni-SZA.

Pt alloy oxygen-reduction electrocatalysts: Synthesis, structure, and property

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells(PEMFCs) are considered a promising power source for electric vehicles and stationary residential applications. However, current PEMFCs have several problems that require solutions, including high cost, insufficient power density, and limited performance durability. A kinetically sluggish oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) is primarily responsible for these issues. The development of advanced Pt-based catalysts is crucial for solving these problems if the large-scale application of PEMFCs is to be realized. In this review, we summarize the recent progress in the development of Pt M alloy(M = Fe, Co, Ni, etc.) catalysts with an emphasis on ordered Pt M intermetallic catalysts, which exhibit significantly enhanced activity and stability. In addition to exploring the intrinsic catalytic performance in traditional aqueous electrolytes via engineering nanostructures, morphologies, and crystallinity of Pt M particles, we highlight recent efforts to study catalysts under real fuel cell environments by the membrane electrode assembly(MEA).