Peng Meiwen, Shi Danli, Sun Yinghui, Cheng Jian, Zhao Bo, Xie Yiming, Zhang Junchang, Guo Wei, Jia Zheng, Liang Zhiqiang, Jiang Lin
Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices and Joint International Research Laboratory of Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215123, P. R. China.
College of Energy, Soochow Institute for Energy and Materials Innovations, Key Laboratory of Advanced Carbon Materials and Wearable Energy Technologies of Jiangsu Province, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215006, P. R. China.
Adv Mater. 2020 Jun;32(23):e1908201. doi: 10.1002/adma.201908201. Epub 2020 May 4.
3D printing of graphene electrodes with high mechanical strength has been a growing interest in the development of advanced energy, environment, and electronic systems, yet is extremely challenging. Herein, a 3D printed bioinspired electrode of graphene reinforced with 1D carbon nanotubes (CNTs) (3DP GC) with both high flexural strength and hierarchical porous structure is reported via a 3D printing strategy. Mechanics modeling reveals the critical role of the 1D CNTs in the enhanced flexural strength by increasing the friction and adhesion between the 2D graphene nanosheets. The 3DP GC electrodes hold distinct advantages: i) an intrinsically high flexural strength that enables their large-scale applications; and ii) a hierarchical porous structure that offers large surface area and interconnected channels, endowing fast mass and/or charge and ions transport rate, which is thus beneficial for acting as an ideal catalyst carrier. The 3DP GC electrode integrated with a NiFeP nanosheets array exhibits a voltage of 1.58 V at 30 mA cm as bifunctional electrode for water splitting, which is much better than most of the reported Ni-, Co-, and Fe-based bifunctional electrocatalysts. Importantly, this study paves the way for the practical applications of 3D printed graphene electrodes in many energy conversion/storage, environmental, and electronic systems where high flexural strength is preferred.
具有高机械强度的石墨烯电极的3D打印在先进能源、环境和电子系统的发展中一直备受关注，但极具挑战性。在此，通过3D打印策略报道了一种由1D碳纳米管（CNT）增强的石墨烯3D打印仿生电极（3DP GC），其具有高抗弯强度和分级多孔结构。力学建模揭示了1D CNTs通过增加2D石墨烯纳米片之间的摩擦和附着力在增强抗弯强度方面的关键作用。3DP GC电极具有明显优势：i）本质上具有高抗弯强度，使其能够大规模应用；ii）分级多孔结构提供大表面积和相互连接的通道，赋予快速的质量和/或电荷及离子传输速率，因此有利于作为理想的催化剂载体。集成有NiFeP纳米片阵列的3DP GC电极作为用于水分解的双功能电极，在30 mA cm时表现出1.58 V的电压，这比大多数报道的基于Ni、Co和Fe的双功能电催化剂要好得多。重要的是，这项研究为3D打印石墨烯电极在许多优先考虑高抗弯强度 的能量转换/存储、环境和电子系统中的实际应用铺平了道路。
