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Updated: Oct 27, 2025
Synthesis of Metal Nanoparticles Supported on Carbon Nanotube with Doped Co and N Atoms and its Catalytic Applications in Hydrogen Production
Published on: December 6, 2021
Efficient electrocatalytic water splitting by bimetallic cobalt iron boride nanoparticles with controlled electronic
Chenchen Qiang1, Liang Zhang1, Hengli He1
1College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Clean Energy of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241000, PR China; Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Solids, Ministry of Education, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241000, PR China.
A novel Co-Fe-B catalyst demonstrates excellent bifunctional activity for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) and Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) in water splitting. This crystalline material shows promise for efficient clean energy production.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Catalysis
Background:
- Developing efficient catalysts for water splitting is crucial for clean energy technologies.
- Bifunctional catalysts that can perform both Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) and Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) are highly desirable.
Purpose of the Study:
- To synthesize and characterize a novel Co-Fe-B ternary catalyst with improved crystallinity.
- To evaluate the catalyst's performance for HER and OER in alkaline media.
- To elucidate the catalytic mechanism using theoretical and experimental methods.
Main Methods:
- Chemical reduction and solid-state reaction for catalyst synthesis.
- Synchrotron-based X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for electronic structure analysis.
- Electrochemical measurements (overpotential, Tafel slope) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations.
- Ex situ Raman spectroscopy to identify active species.
Main Results:
- The Co-Fe-B ternary catalyst exhibited low overpotentials of 129 mV for HER and 280 mV for OER.
- Achieved Tafel slopes of 67.3 mV dec⁻¹ for HER and 38.9 mV dec⁻¹ for OER in alkaline conditions.
- DFT calculations confirmed thermodynamic favorability for HER and OER.
- CoOOH and FeOOH were identified as the active species for OER.
Conclusions:
- The crystalline Co-Fe-B ternary catalyst demonstrates superior bifunctional activity for water splitting.
- The catalyst's performance is attributed to electronic structure redistribution and favorable thermodynamics.
- This work highlights the potential of crystalline borides as efficient electrocatalysts for water splitting devices.
