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3D graphene foam-supported cobalt phosphate and borate electrocatalysts for high-efficiency water oxidation

  • Article
  • Materials Science
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Science Bulletin

Abstract

The cobalt phosphate-/cobalt borate-based oxygen-evolving catalysts (OECs) are the important class of earth-abundant electrocatalysts that can operate with high activity for water splitting under benign conditions. This article reports the integration of cobalt phosphate (Co-Pi) and cobalt borate (Co-Bi) OECs with three-dimensional (3D) graphene foam (GF) for the electrocatalytic water oxidation reaction. The GF showed a unique advantage to serve as a highly conductive 3D support with large capacity for anchoring and loading Co-OECs, thereby facilitating mass and charge transfer due to the large amount of active sites provided by the 3D graphene scaffold. As a result, this integrated system of GF and Co-OECs exhibits synergistically enhanced catalytic activity. The overpotential (η) of Co-Pi and Co-Bi/graphene catalysts is about 0.390 and 0.315 V in neutral solutions, respectively. Besides, the integrated Co-OECs/graphene catalysts have also exhibited improved and stable oxygen evolution catalytic ability in alkaline solution.

抽象

钴基磷酸盐(Co-Pi)或硼酸盐(Co-Bi)析氧催化剂(OECs)具有优异的电催化分解水析氧性能。本文将钴基OECs电沉积负载于三维泡沫状石墨烯上,进一步提升其催化析氧性能。石墨烯泡沫的高导电三维网络状结构使电催化分解水过程的传质和电荷传递过程都得到有效提升,并与钴基OECs之间表现出良好的协同催化效果。在中性溶液中,石墨烯泡沫负载的Co-Pi和Co-Pi的析氧过电位分别只有0.390和0.315 V;在碱性溶液中,2种钴基OECs也表现出优异的析氧催化与稳定性。

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21322304, 11290161) and the National Basic Research Program of China (2012CB933003, 2013CB932603).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Min Zeng, Hao Wang, Chong Zhao, Jiake Wei, Wenlong Wang & Xuedong Bai

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  1. Min Zeng
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  2. Hao Wang
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  3. Chong Zhao
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  4. Jiake Wei
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  5. Wenlong Wang
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  6. Xuedong Bai
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Correspondence to Wenlong Wang or Xuedong Bai.

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Zeng, M., Wang, H., Zhao, C. et al. 3D graphene foam-supported cobalt phosphate and borate electrocatalysts for high-efficiency water oxidation. Sci. Bull. 60, 1426–1433 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-015-0861-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-015-0861-5

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