Electronically Modified Atomic Sites Within a Multicomponent Co/Cu Composite for Efficient Oxygen Electroreduction

Zhang, Qingran; Kumar, Priyank; Zhu, Xiaofeng; Daiyan, Rahman; Bedford, Nicholas M.; Wu, Kuang‐Hsu; Han, Zhaojun; Zhang, Tierui; Amal, Rose; Lu, Xunyu

doi:10.1002/aenm.202100303

Electronically Modified Atomic Sites Within a Multicomponent Co/Cu Composite for Efficient Oxygen Electroreduction

Journal Article · Wed Mar 10 00:00:00 EST 2021 · Advanced Energy Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202100303· OSTI ID:1782939

^[1]; Kumar, Priyank ^[1]; Zhu, Xiaofeng ^[1]; Daiyan, Rahman ^[1]; Bedford, Nicholas M. ^[1]; Wu, Kuang‐Hsu ^[1]; Han, Zhaojun ^[1]; Zhang, Tierui ^[2]; Amal, Rose ^[1]; Lu, Xunyu ^[1]

Particles and Catalysis Research Group School of Chemical Engineering The University of New South Wales Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100190 China

Abstract

Rational design of cost‐effective and active electrocatalysts is an essential step toward the large‐scale realization of hydrogen fuel cells and metal–air batteries. Its success requires a drastic improvement in the kinetics of the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, a novel ORR catalyst formed by encapsulating thin Cu layer decorated Co nanoparticles inside graphitic carbon layers that are embedded with abundant CoN _x and CuN _x atomic sites (denoted as SA‐CoCu@Cu/CoNP), is reported. The multicomponent SA‐CoCu@Cu/CoNP composite exhibits a remarkable ORR catalytic activity, exceptional stability, and excellent methanol tolerance in alkaline media, outperforming the commercial platinum carbon under identical testing conditions and also being active in acidic media. The excellent ORR catalytic performance is ascribed to the modified electronic structure of the CoN _x active sites due to an electron donating effect from the embedded nanoparticles and the nearby CuN _x species, as revealed by X‐ray spectroscopic results and density functional theory computations. Moreover, the effective role of CuN _x sites in suppressing the peroxide formation during ORR is also identified, endowing the resultant catalyst a prolonged stability and enhanced efficiency that are beneficial for practical applications.

View Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1782939

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1783889

Journal Information:: Advanced Energy Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Energy Materials Journal Issue: 17 Vol. 11; ISSN 1614-6832

Publisher:: Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: Germany

Language:: English

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