Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 6, 2025
![Protein Film Infrared Electrochemistry Demonstrated for Study of H2 Oxidation by a [NiFe] Hydrogenase](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.jove.com%2FCDNSource%2Fteasers%2F55858.jpg&w=3840&q=50)
Protein Film Infrared Electrochemistry Demonstrated for Study of H2 Oxidation by a [NiFe] Hydrogenase
Published on: December 4, 2017
Hydrogen-Rich Pyrolysis from Ni-Fe Heterometallic Schiff Base Centrosymmetric Cluster Facilitates NiFe Alloy for
Fanglei Zhou1, Meixing Gan1, Dafeng Yan1
1Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Organic Chemical Materials Co-constructed by the Province and Ministry, College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Hubei University, Youyi Avenue 368#, Wuhan, 430062, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Binary metal nickel-iron alloys have been proven to have great potential in oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysis, but there are still certain challenges in how to construct more efficient nickel-iron alloy electrocatalysts and maximize their own advantages. In this work, a heterometallic nickel-iron cluster (L = C64 H66 Fe4 N8 Ni2 O19 ) of Schiff base (LH3 = 2-amino-1,3-propanediol salicylaldehyde) is designed as a precursor to explore its behavior in the pyrolysis process under inert atmosphere. The combination of TG-MS, morphology, and X-ray characterization techniques shows that the Schiff base ligands in the heterometallic clusters produces a strong reductive atmosphere during pyrolysis, which enable the two 3d metals Ni and Fe to form NiFe alloys. Moreover, Fe2 O3 /Fe0.64 Ni0.36 @Cs carbon nanomaterials are formed, in which Fe2 O3 /Fe0.64 Ni0.36 is the potential active material for OER. It is also found that the centrosymmetric structure of the heterometallic Schiff base precursor is potentially related to the formation of the Fe2 O3 /Fe0.64 Ni0.36 alloy@carbon structures. The Fe2 O3 /Fe0.64 Ni0.36 @C-800 provides 274 mV overpotential in 1 m KOH solution at 10 mA cm-2 in OER. This work provides an effective basis for further research on Schiff base bimetallic doping-derived carbon nanomaterials as excellent OER electrocatalysts.
Related Concept Videos
Reduction of Alkenes: Asymmetric Catalytic Hydrogenation
The metal catalyst used can be either heterogeneous or homogeneous. When hydrogenation of an alkene generates a chiral center, a pair of enantiomeric products is expected to form. However, an enantiomeric excess of one of the products can be facilitated using an enantioselective reaction or an...
Reduction of Alkenes: Catalytic Hydrogenation
Metals like palladium, platinum, and nickel are commonly used in their solid forms — fine powder on an inert surface. As these catalysts remain insoluble in the reaction mixture, they are referred to as heterogeneous catalysts.
The hydrogenation process takes place on the...
Catalysis
Reduction of Alkynes to cis-Alkenes: Catalytic Hydrogenation
Like alkenes, alkynes can be reduced to alkanes in the presence of transition metal catalysts such as Pt, Pd, or Ni. The reaction involves two sequential syn additions of hydrogen via a cis-alkene intermediate.

