Hyun Suyeon, Shanmugam Sangaraju
Department of Energy Science Engineering, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology (DGIST), Daegu 42988, The Republic of Korea.
ACS Omega. 2018 Aug 2;3(8):8621-8630. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.8b01375. eCollection 2018 Aug 31.
A unique three-dimensional (3D) structure consisting of a hierarchical nickel-cobalt dichalcogenide spinel nanostructure is investigated for its electrocatalytic properties at benign neutral and alkaline pH and applied as an air cathode for practical zinc-air batteries. The results show a high oxygen evolution reaction catalytic activity of nickel-cobalt sulfide nanosheet arrays grown on carbon cloth (NiCoS NS/CC) over the commercial benchmarking catalyst under both pH conditions. In particular, the NiCoS NS/CC air cathode shows high discharge capacity, a narrow potential gap between discharge and charge, and superior cycle durability with reversibility, which exceeds that of commercial precious metal-based electrodes. The excellent performance of NiCoS NS/CC in water electrolyzers and zinc-air batteries is mainly due to highly exposed electroactive sites with a rough surface, morphology-based advantages of nanosheet arrays, good adhesion between NiCoS and the conducting carbon cloth, and the active layer formed of nickel-cobalt (oxy)hydroxides during water splitting. These results suggest that NiCoS NS/CC could be a promising candidate as an efficient electrode for high-performance water electrolyzers and rechargeable zinc-air batteries.
研究了一种由分层镍钴二硫属化物尖晶石纳米结构组成的独特三维（3D）结构在中性和碱性pH条件下的电催化性能，并将其用作实用锌空气电池的空气阴极。结果表明，在两种pH条件下，生长在碳布上的硫化镍钴纳米片阵列（NiCoS NS/CC）相对于商业基准催化剂具有较高的析氧反应催化活性。特别是，NiCoS NS/CC空气阴极显示出高放电容量、放电和充电之间的窄电位间隙以及优异的循环耐久性和可逆性，超过了商业贵金属基电极。NiCoS NS/CC在水电解槽和锌空气电池中的优异性能主要归因于具有粗糙表面的高度暴露的电活性位点、纳米片阵列基于形态的优势、NiCoS与导电碳布之间的良好附着力以及在水分解过程中由镍钴（氢）氧化物形成的活性层。这些结果表明，NiCoS NS/CC有望成为高性能水电解槽和可充电锌空气电池的高效电极候选材料。
