In situ iron coating on nanocatalysts for efficient and durable oxygen evolution reaction

Journal Article · 26 June 2019 · Nano Energy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.103855 · OSTI ID:1543416

Yang, Chunpeng ^[1]; Cui, Mingjin ^[1]; Li, Na ^[2]; Liu, Zhijuan ^[2]; Hwang, Sooyeon ^[2]; Xie, Hua ^[1]; Wang, Xizheng ^[1]; Kuang, Yudi ^[1]; Jiao, Miaolun ^[1]; Su, Dong ^[2]; Hu, Liangbing ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
2. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is essential to many important energy conversion and storage systems. To achieve high-performance and low-cost OER electrocatalysts, great effort has been devoted to the development of noble-metal-free OER nanocatalysts. While nanostructured materials have been shown effective at improving the catalytic activity, the stability of the nanocatalyst has yet to be significantly improved. Furthermore, nanocatalyst syntheses are typically complex, limiting their practical application. Herein, we design a noble-metal-free nanocatalyst which has a CoFeP_x core and an in situ Fe coating layer to enhance the material’s catalytic activity and durability for OER. We utilize the vapor pressure difference of Fe and Co at high temperature to synthesize the CoFeP_x-Fe core-shell nanoparticles via a one-step high-temperature shock technique. The high-temperature method strongly anchors the CoFeP_x nanoparticles onto a carbon substrate. The thin Fe shell layer (~2 nm) coated on the CoFeP_x greatly enhances the durability of the CoFeP_x catalyst without hampering its activity due to the geometric effect. This nanocatalyst with an in situ Fe shell demonstrates a successful nanocoating approach for fabricating catalytically active protection layers on catalysts with improved activity and durability.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0012704
• OSTI ID: 1543416
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1694274
• Report Number(s): BNL-211911-2019-JAAM
• Journal Information: Nano Energy, Vol. 63, Issue C; ISSN 2211-2855
• Publisher: ElsevierCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English