Open AccessNano-mediated uniform ternary Cu–Co–Ni-based nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes with synergistic reactivity for high-performance oxygen reduction
Author(s) -
Cunyuan Gao,
Jie Huai,
Kongshuo Ma,
Yizhong Lu,
Zhenlu Zhao
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
nano express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2632-959X
DOI - 10.1088/2632-959x/abe455
Subject(s) - ternary operation , carbon nanotube , materials science , catalysis , calcination , chemical engineering , electron transfer , reversible hydrogen electrode , nanotechnology , electrochemistry , chemistry , electrode , organic chemistry , computer science , engineering , programming language , reference electrode
Here, we report nano-mediated Cu–Co–Ni-based nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs/T-CCN) by hydrothermal and procedural calcination strategy. The nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) show more average diameter and the N-CNTs are uniformly modified with ternary Cu–Co–Ni-based nanoparticles (T-CCN). The hybrid exhibits excellent ORR catalytic activity. The onset potential (E onset ) and half-wave potential (E 1/2 ) are 0.96 V and 0.87 V ( versus reversible hydrogen electrode, RHE) in 0.1 M KOH. Most importantly, compared to 20% Pt/C, N-CNTs/T-CCN catalyst displays better methanol tolerance and higher stability. The H 2 O 2 yield of the N-CNTs/T-CCN is less than 7.5% and the electron-transfer number (n) is about 3.9. High ORR performance may be related to the synergistic enhancement effect. The N-CNTs supply good electrical conductivity and allow large numbers of active sites to efficiently participate; the T-CCN can improve the local work function of the N-CNTs by synergistic electronic interaction and promote O 2 adsorption; the stability of embedded T-CCN can be greatly improved, mainly due to the weakness of Ostwald effect. All these advantages make the hybrid a promising ORR catalyst.