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The electrochemical synthesis of CNTs/N-Cu2S composites as efficient electrocatalysts for water oxidation

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Abstract

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts are of central importance for electrocatalytic water oxidation and fuel generation, while it is still an urgent requirement to design and develop efficient OER catalysts with rapid kinetics and low overpotentials. Herein, we report an electrochemical deposition method to fabricate carbon nanotubes/N-doped cuprous sulfide (CNTs/N-Cu2S) composites using thiourea and a CuSO4 solution as the S and Cu sources, respectively. The advantages of this strategy include low cost, simple processing and the absence of templates or surfactants that can otherwise affect the electrochemical properties of the products. The N supplied by the thiourea can be used as a doping agent as a result of the in situ formation of small N-Cu2S particles, which can increase larger surface area and create more active sites to enhance OER catalytic activity, compared with that obtained with materials synthesized without adding the thiourea. The synergic interface of CNTs and N-Cu2S can improve conductivity and efficient chemical transfer in the composites electrodes by introducing CNTs. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the CNTs/N-Cu2S-5cyc composites present an excellent activity with the current density of 10 mA cm−2 at a low OER overpotential of 280 mV, the Tafel slope of 63 mV dec−1 and a strong electrochemical stability in 1.0 M KOH solution.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Michael D. Judge, MSc, from Liwen Bianji, Edanz Editing China (www.liwenbianji.cn/ac), for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

Funding

The work was supported in part by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (51972238, 21875166, 51741207, 21475096 and 51572197)and China postdoctoral science foundation (2017M622630), Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LR18E020001), Science and Technology Project of Zhejiang Province (LGF18B050005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanomaterials & Chemistry Key Laboratory, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, 325027, China

    Junjie Hou, Xuemei Zhou, Zhi Yang & Huagui Nie

  2. School of Material and Energy, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Xuemei Zhou

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  1. Junjie Hou
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Correspondence to Xuemei Zhou or Huagui Nie.

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Hou, J., Zhou, X., Yang, Z. et al. The electrochemical synthesis of CNTs/N-Cu2S composites as efficient electrocatalysts for water oxidation. J Nanopart Res 22, 12 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-019-4729-5

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