Metallic Cobalt Encapsulated in Bamboo-Like and Nitrogen-Rich Carbonitride Nanotubes for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

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• 作者：Xiaoping Dai ; Zhanzhao Li ; Yangde Ma ; Mengzhao Liu ; Kangli Du ; Haixia Su ; Hongying Zhuo ; Lei Yu ; Hui Sun ; Xin Zhang
• 刊名：ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：March 16, 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：8
• 期：10
• 页码：6439-6448
• 全文大小：779K
• ISSN：1944-8252

文摘

Despite being technically possible, the hydrogen production by means of electrocatalytic water splitting is still practically unreachable mainly because of the lack of inexpensive and high active catalysts. Herein, a novel and facile approach by melamine polymerization, exfoliation and Co²⁺-assisted thermal annealing is developed to fabricate Co nanoparticles embedded in bamboo-like and nitrogen-rich carbonitride nanotubes (Co@NCN). The electronic interaction between the embedded Co nanoparticles and N-rich carbonitride nanotubes could strongly promote the HER performance. The optimized Co@NCN-800 exhibits outstanding HER activity with an onset potential of −89 mV (vs RHE), a large exchange current density of 62.2 μA cm^–2, and small Tafel slope of 82 mV dec^–1, as well as excellent stability (5000 cycles) in acid media, demonstrating the potential for the replacement of Pt-based catalysts. Control experiments reveal that the superior performance should be ascribed to the synergistic effects between embedded Co nanoparticles and N-rich carbonitride nanotubes, which originate from the high pyridinic N content, fast charge transfer rate from Co particles to electrodes via electronic coupling, and porous and bamboo-like carbonitride nanotubes for more active sites in HER.