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Iridium-incorporated cobalt nanofibers as efficient and robust bifunctional catalysts for high-performance water electrolysis

铱钴纳米纤维作为一种高效稳定的双功能电催化剂 用于高性能水裂解

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Abstract

Iridium (Ir)-incorporated cobalt (Co) nanofibers (Co-Ir-600) are fabricated via an electrospinning-calcination-in situ H2 reduction-galvanic replacement process. Benefitting from the unique one-dimensional nanofibrous heterostructure that allows rapid electron/mass transfer as well as the synergy between Ir and Co components, the Co-Ir catalyst shows a remarkable electrocatalytic activity for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with an extremely low overpotential of 169 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in an alkaline electrolyte. Furthermore, the catalyst also presents a high hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance. Therefore, an alkaline electrolyzer is constructed with the Co-Ir-600 nanofibrous catalyst as both the anode and cathode electrodes, and only a small cell voltage of 1.51 V is needed to achieve 10 mA cm−2 with outstanding durability. This performance is superior to that of benchmark Pt/C∥IrO2 electrodes and many other reported water electrolysis cells. This study supplies a general and efficient way to prepare cost-effective and high-performance metal-based overall water splitting electrocatalysts.

摘要

本文通过静电纺丝-煅烧-原位氢还原-置换工艺制备了嵌入铱的钴纳米纤维(Co-Ir-600). 得益于独特的一维纳米纤维异质结构给予的快速电子传输和传质过程以及Ir和Co两组分之间的协同作用, Co-Ir催化剂在碱性电解质中达到10 mA cm−2电流密度仅需169 mV的极低过电位, 表现出优异的析氧电催化活性. 此外, 该催化剂还具有良好的析氢反应性能. 我们构建了一种将Co-Ir-600纳米纤维催化剂同时作为阳极和阴极的碱性电解槽, 其只需要1.51 V的低电池电压即可达到10 mA cm−2的电流密度且耐用性好, 性质明显优于参照的Pt/C∥IrO2以及许多已报道的水电解槽. 本研究为制备经济高效的金属基水裂解电催化剂提供了一种通用有效的方法.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51973079 and 52104376) and the Project of the Education Department of Jilin Province (JJKH20211047KJ).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alan G. MacDiarmid Institute, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China

    Weimo Li  (李闱墨), Ce Wang  (王策) & Xiaofeng Lu  (卢晓峰)

  2. Key Laboratory of Automobile Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130025, China

    Meixuan Li  (李美璇)

Authors
  1. Weimo Li  (李闱墨)
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  2. Meixuan Li  (李美璇)
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  3. Ce Wang  (王策)
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  4. Xiaofeng Lu  (卢晓峰)
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Contributions

Author contributions Lu X, Li M and Wang C proposed the idea and supervised the program. Li W performed the experiments, and participated in the data analysis and discussions. Li W wrote the manuscript and Lu X and Li M revised it.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Meixuan Li  (李美璇) or Xiaofeng Lu  (卢晓峰).

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Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Supplementary information Supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

Weimo Li received his BSc degree in 2019 from the Department of Materials Chemistry, Jilin University. He is pursuing his MSc degree under the supervision of Prof. Xiaofeng Lu at the College of Chemistry, Jilin University. His current research interest focuses on the preparation of electrospun nanomaterials as highly efficient electro-catalysts for water splitting.

Meixuan Li received her BSc and PhD degrees from Jilin University. She is now a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin University. Her current research focuses on the micro-structure regulation of magnesium alloys and their corresponding corrosion behavior as well as electrochemical water splitting.

Xiaofeng Lu received his BSc and PhD degrees from the College of Chemistry, Jilin University, in 2003 and 2007, respectively. After that, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis until 2008. He is now a professor at Alan G. MacDiarmid Institute, College of Chemistry, Jilin University. His current research focuses on the fabrication of 1D nanomaterials for applications in catalysis and energy devices.

Supporting Information

40843_2022_2216_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Iridium-incorporated cobalt nanofibers as efficient and robust bifunctional catalysts for high-performance water electrolysis

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Li, W., Li, M., Wang, C. et al. Iridium-incorporated cobalt nanofibers as efficient and robust bifunctional catalysts for high-performance water electrolysis. Sci. China Mater. 66, 1024–1032 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-022-2216-4

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