TY - JOUR
T1 - Three-Dimensional Nanoporous Co 9 S 4 P 4 Pentlandite as a Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Overall Neutral Water Splitting
AU - Tan, Yongwen
AU - Luo, Min
AU - Liu, Pan
AU - Cheng, Chun
AU - Han, Jiuhui
AU - Watanabe, Kentaro
AU - Chen, Mingwei
PY - 2019/1/30
Y1 - 2019/1/30
N2 - Significant progress has recently been achieved in developing noble-metal-free catalysts for electrochemical water splitting in acidic and alkaline electrolytes. However, high-performance bifunctional catalysts toward both hydrogen evolution and oxygen oxidation reactions of neutral water have not been realized in spite of the technical importance for electrochemical hydrogen production in natural environments powered by renewable energy sources of wind, solar, and so on. Here, we report a nanoporous Co 9 S 4 P 4 pentlandite with three-dimensional bicontinuous nanoporosity for electrochemical water splitting in neutral solutions. The three-dimensional binder-free catalyst shows a negligible onset overpotential, low Tafel slope, and excellent poisoning tolerance for hydrogen evolution reaction, comparable to or even better than commercial Pt catalysts. Remarkably, the new catalyst also has excellent catalytic activities toward oxygen evolution and, hence, can be used as both anode and cathode for overall neutral water splitting. These extraordinary catalytic activities toward neutral water splitting have never been obtained from non-noble-metal catalysts before. The bifunctional and low-cost catalyst holds great promise for practical applications in electrochemical water splitting in natural environments.
AB - Significant progress has recently been achieved in developing noble-metal-free catalysts for electrochemical water splitting in acidic and alkaline electrolytes. However, high-performance bifunctional catalysts toward both hydrogen evolution and oxygen oxidation reactions of neutral water have not been realized in spite of the technical importance for electrochemical hydrogen production in natural environments powered by renewable energy sources of wind, solar, and so on. Here, we report a nanoporous Co 9 S 4 P 4 pentlandite with three-dimensional bicontinuous nanoporosity for electrochemical water splitting in neutral solutions. The three-dimensional binder-free catalyst shows a negligible onset overpotential, low Tafel slope, and excellent poisoning tolerance for hydrogen evolution reaction, comparable to or even better than commercial Pt catalysts. Remarkably, the new catalyst also has excellent catalytic activities toward oxygen evolution and, hence, can be used as both anode and cathode for overall neutral water splitting. These extraordinary catalytic activities toward neutral water splitting have never been obtained from non-noble-metal catalysts before. The bifunctional and low-cost catalyst holds great promise for practical applications in electrochemical water splitting in natural environments.
KW - cobalt pentlandite
KW - hydrogen evolution reaction
KW - nanoporous materials
KW - neutral water
KW - overall water splitting
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U2 - 10.1021/acsami.8b17961
DO - 10.1021/acsami.8b17961
M3 - Article
C2 - 30614681
AN - SCOPUS:85060884795
VL - 11
SP - 3880
EP - 3888
JO - ACS applied materials & interfaces
JF - ACS applied materials & interfaces
SN - 1944-8244
IS - 4
ER -