Electrolyte accessibility of non-precious-metal catalysts with different spherical particle sizes under alkaline conditions for oxygen reduction reaction

Fuel cells are one of the most competitive alternative energy sources because their theoretical efficiency is~15%higher than that of internal combustion engines (ICEs) and they are considered cleaner and safer.When fuel cells are used to replace ICEs in cars and energy conversion systems,the system efficiency increases;furthermore,the process becomes more environmentally-friendly because fuel cells produce electricity by using only hydrogen and oxygen,obtained by purifying atmospheric air by filtering out dust and pollutants.Hence,their final product is only water,instead of pollutants like carboFuel cells are one of the most competitive alternative energy sources because their theoretical efficiency is~15%higher than that of internal combustion engines (ICEs) and they are considered cleaner and safer.When fuel cells are used to replace ICEs in cars and energy conversion systems,the system efficiency increases;furthermore,the process becomes more environmentally-friendly because fuel cells produce electricity by using only hydrogen and oxygen,obtained by purifying atmospheric air by filtering out dust and pollutants.Hence,their final product is only water,instead of pollutants like carbon dioxide.n dioxide.

The incorporation of cocatalyst cobalt sulfide into graphitic carbon nitride:Boosted photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance and mechanism exploration

2D-layered graphitic carbon nitride(g-C_(3)N_(4))is regarded as a great prospect as a photocatalyst for H_(2)generation.However,g-C_(3)N_(4)’s photocatalytic hydrogen evolution(HER)activity is significantly restricted by the recombination of photocarriers.We find that cobalt sulfide(CoS_(2))as a cocatalyst can promote g-C_(3)N_(4)nanosheets(NSs)to realize very efficient photocatalytic H_(2)generation.The prepared CoS_(2)/g-C_(3)N_(4)hybrids display highly boosted photocatalytic H_(2)generation performance and outstanding cycle stability.The optimized 7%-CoS_(2)/g-C_(3)N_(4)hybrids show a much improved photocatalytic H_(2)generation rate of 36.2μmol-1h-1,which is about 180 times as much as bare g-C_(3)N_(4)(0.2μmol-1h-1).In addition,the apparent quantum efficiency(AQE)of all the samples was computed under light atλ=370 nm,in which the AQE of 7%-CoS_(2)/g-C_(3)N_(4)hybrids is up to 5.72%.The experimental data and the DFT calculation suggest that the CoS_(2)/g-C_(3)N_(4)hybrid’s excellent HER activity is attributable to the lower overpotential and the smaller Co-H bond activation energy for HER.Accordingly,the CoS_(2)cocatalyst loading effectively boosts the photocatalytic performance of g-C_(3)N_(4)for H_(2)evolution.The project promotes fast development of high-efficiency photocatalysts and low-cost for photocatalytic H_(2)generation.

Cobalt-containing covalent organic frameworks for visible light-driven hydrogen evolution

Covalent organic frameworks(COFs) have recently emerged as a new class of photocatalysts.However,integrated design is crucial to maximizing the performance of COF-incorporating photocatalytic systems.Herein,we compare two strategies of installing earth-abundant metal-based catalytic centers into the matrice of a 2 D COF named NUS-55.Compared to NUS-55(Co)prepared from the post-synthetic metalation of coordination sites within the COF,the molecular co-catalyst impregnated NUS-55/[Co(bpy)3]Cl2 achieves a seven-fold improvement in visible light-driven H2 evolution rate to 2,480 μmol g^-1h^-1,with an apparent quantum efficiency(AQE) of 1.55% at 450 nm.Our results show that the rational design of molecular anchoring sites in COFs for the introduction of catalytic metal sites can be a viable strategy for the development of highly efficient photocatalysts with enhanced stability and photocatalytic activities.