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Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes for Highly Active and Metal-Free Electrocatalysts in Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

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Abstract

Six kinds of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (FCNTs) with different functional moieties were utilized as metal-free electrocatalysts towards the hydrogen evolution reaction for the first time. Ethylenediamine-functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (EDA-CNTs) delivered the best HER activity holding a low-onset overpotential of 150 mV, a Tafel slope of 116 mV dec−1, and a Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 94% with a good stability. This HER activity of EDA-CNTs is superior or quite comparable to other reported metal-free HER catalysts, while the preparation of this electrocatalyst is simple, quick, and inexpensive. This good HER performance of EDA-CNTs can be resulted from the high electrical conductivity and its high grafting yield to form more amide groups for enhancement of proton adsorption. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were successfully used to elucidate the HER process promoted by EDA-CNTs, in which the amide groups were demonstrated to improve the proton adsorption.

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Funding

This work was supported by the “Fundamental Research Funds of the Central University” (SWU114095, XDJK2017C002, XDJK2016B001, XDJK2017A002), Natural Science Foundation Project of CQ CSTC (cstc2016jcyjA0454), “Eagle Project” of Chongqing Education Commission (CY160201), and Program for Innovation Team Building at Institutions of Higher Education in Chongqing (CXTDX201601011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Clean Energy & Advanced Materials, Faculty for Materials and Energy, Southwest University, No. 2 Tiansheng Road, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Tianhao Li, Daomei Tang, Zehua Cui & ChangMing Li

  2. Chongqing Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Technologies of Clean Energy, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Tianhao Li, Daomei Tang, Zehua Cui & ChangMing Li

  3. High School Affiliated to Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Bo Cai, Dalin Li & Qianyuan Chen

Authors
  1. Tianhao Li
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  2. Daomei Tang
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  3. Zehua Cui
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  4. Bo Cai
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  5. Dalin Li
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  6. Qianyuan Chen
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  7. ChangMing Li
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Correspondence to Tianhao Li.

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Li, T., Tang, D., Cui, Z. et al. Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes for Highly Active and Metal-Free Electrocatalysts in Hydrogen Evolution Reaction. Electrocatalysis 9, 573–581 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12678-017-0452-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12678-017-0452-0

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