DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: FeN 4 Sites Embedded into Carbon Nanofiber Integrated with Electrochemically Exfoliated Graphene for Oxygen Evolution in Acidic Medium

Journal Article · · Advanced Energy Materials
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [5];  [6];  [6]; ORCiD logo [5];  [2]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education College of Chemical and Biological Engineering Zhejiang University Hangzhou 310027 China
  2. Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Chemical Engineering Manufacture Technology College of Chemical &, Biological Engineering Zhejiang University Hangzhou Zhejiang 310027 China
  3. Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology College of Physical Science and Technology Central China Normal University Wuhan 430079 China
  4. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Case Western Reserve University 10900 Euclid Ave Cleveland OH 44106 USA
  5. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering University at Buffalo The State University of New York Buffalo NY 14260 USA
  6. State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province School of Materials Science &, Engineering Zhejiang University Hangzhou 310027 China

Abstract Development of inexpensive and efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts in acidic environment is very challenging, but it is important for practical proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers. A molecular iron–nitrogen coordinated carbon nanofiber is developed, which is supported on an electrochemically exfoliated graphene (FeN 4 /NF/EG) electrocatalyst through carbonizing the precursor composed of iron ions absorbed on polyaniline‐electrodeposited EG. Benefitting from the unique 3D structure, the FeN 4 /NF/EG hybrid exhibits a low overpotential of ≈294 mV at 10 mA cm −2 for the OER in acidic electrolyte, which is much lower than that of commercial Ir/C catalysts (320 mV) as well as all previously reported acid transitional metal‐derived OER electrocatalysts. X‐ray absorption spectroscopy coupled with a designed poisoning experiment reveals that the molecular FeN 4 species are identified as active centers for the OER in acid. The first‐principles‐based calculations verify that the FeN 4 –doped carbon structure is capable of reducing the potential barriers and boosting the electrocatalytic OER activity in acid.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
OSTI ID:
1463188
Journal Information:
Advanced Energy Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Energy Materials Vol. 8 Journal Issue: 26; ISSN 1614-6832
Publisher:
Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
Germany
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 199 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (28)

Molecular metal–Nx centres in porous carbon for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution journal August 2015
Water Oxidation on Oxygen-Deficient Barium Titanate: A First-Principles Study journal April 2017
C and N Hybrid Coordination Derived Co–C–N Complex as a Highly Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction journal November 2015
Iridium-Based Multimetallic Porous Hollow Nanocrystals for Efficient Overall-Water-Splitting Catalysis journal October 2017
Identifying the Active Sites on N-doped Graphene toward Oxygen Evolution Reaction journal January 2017
A low-noble-metal W 1−x Ir x O 3−δ water oxidation electrocatalyst for acidic media via rapid plasma synthesis journal January 2017
Amorphous Metallic NiFeP: A Conductive Bulk Material Achieving High Activity for Oxygen Evolution Reaction in Both Alkaline and Acidic Media journal June 2017
Design of template-stabilized active and earth-abundant oxygen evolution catalysts in acid journal January 2017
Design of N-Coordinated Dual-Metal Sites: A Stable and Active Pt-Free Catalyst for Acidic Oxygen Reduction Reaction journal November 2017
Heat treated carbon supported iron( ii )phthalocyanine oxygen reduction catalysts: elucidation of the structure–activity relationship using X-ray absorption spectroscopy journal January 2016
Density functional theory calculations of XPS binding energy shift for nitrogen-containing graphene-like structures journal January 2013
Characterizing various types of defects in nuclear graphite using Raman scattering: Heat treatment, ion irradiation and polishing journal December 2015
Iridium nanoparticles anchored on 3D graphite foam as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for excellent overall water splitting in acidic solution journal October 2017
Crystalline nickel manganese antimonate as a stable water-oxidation catalyst in aqueous 1.0 M H 2 SO 4 journal January 2017
Exfoliated 2D Transition Metal Disulfides for Enhanced Electrocatalysis of Oxygen Evolution Reaction in Acidic Medium journal February 2016
High-Performance Pyrochlore-Type Yttrium Ruthenate Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction in Acidic Media journal August 2017
A highly active and stable IrO x /SrIrO 3 catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction journal September 2016
Effect of Iron Precursors on the Structure and Oxygen Reduction Activity of Iron–Nitrogen–Carbon Catalysts journal September 2016
Polyoxometalate electrocatalysts based on earth-abundant metals for efficient water oxidation in acidic media journal October 2017
Single layer graphene encapsulating non-precious metals as high-performance electrocatalysts for water oxidation journal January 2016
Direct atomic-level insight into the active sites of a high-performance PGM-free ORR catalyst journal August 2017
Discriminating Catalytically Active FeN x Species of Atomically Dispersed Fe–N–C Catalyst for Selective Oxidation of the C–H Bond journal July 2017
One-step conversion from Ni/Fe polyphthalocyanine to N-doped carbon supported Ni-Fe nanoparticles for highly efficient water splitting journal December 2016
Electrochemical Reduction of CO 2 Catalyzed by Fe-N-C Materials: A Structure–Selectivity Study journal January 2017
Recent Progress on Fe/N/C Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Fuel Cells journal July 2015
Metal-Doped Nitrogenated Carbon as an Efficient Catalyst for Direct CO 2 Electroreduction to CO and Hydrocarbons journal July 2015
Identification of catalytic sites for oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution in N-doped graphene materials: Development of highly efficient metal-free bifunctional electrocatalyst journal April 2016
Robust Pt–Sn alloy decorated graphene nanohybrid cocatalyst for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution journal January 2014