Synergistic Effect between Metal-Nitrogen-Carbon Sheets and NiO Nanoparticles for Enhanced Electrochemical
Jun Wang1,2, Kai Li1, Hai-xia Zhong1,2
1State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022 (P.R. China).
Abstract:
Identifying effective means to improve the electrochemical performance of oxygen-evolution catalysts represents a significant challenge in several emerging renewable energy technologies. Herein, we consider metal-nitrogen-carbon sheets which are commonly used for catalyzing the oxygen-reduction reaction (ORR), as the support to load NiO nanoparticles for the oxygen-evolution reaction (OER). FeNC sheets, as the advanced supports, synergistically promote the NiO nanocatalysts to exhibit superior performance in alkaline media, which is confirmed by experimental observations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Our findings show the advantages in considering the support effect for designing highly active, durable, and cost-effective OER electrocatalysts.
