Li Tianhao, Chen Yanping, Hu Weihua, Yuan Weiyong, Zhao Qichao, Yao Yanling, Zhang Bing, Qiu Chuntian, Li Chang Ming
Chongqing Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Technologies of Clean Energy, School for Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
Bureau of Hydrology, Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Wuhan 430010, China.
Nanoscale. 2021 Mar 4;13(8):4444-4450. doi: 10.1039/d0nr08817j.
The development of cost-effective and high-performance catalysts for the production of hydrogen via electrocatalytic water splitting is crucial for meeting the increasing energy demand and expanding the hydrogen economy. In this study, a series of metal-free carbon nanotube (CNT) catalysts were designed and in situ functionalized by imidazolium ionic liquids (ILs) for enhanced electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The theoretical calculations and experimental results reveal that the functionalization of CNTs with imidazolium ILs facilitated the electron transfer process and exhibited superior hydrogen adsorption, thereby enhancing the performance of the HER. In particular, CNT-IM-Cl displays excellent electrocatalytic activity and shows a low onset overpotential and Tafel slope of 80 mV and 38 mV dec-1, respectively. This study highlights the significant potential of IL in situ functionalized metal-free CNTs for the electrocatalytic HER and provides insight into the structure design of highly efficient electrocatalysts.
开发用于通过电催化水分解生产氢气的具有成本效益和高性能的催化剂对于满足不断增长的能源需求和扩大氢经济至关重要。在本研究中，设计了一系列无金属碳纳米管（CNT）催化剂，并用咪唑鎓离子液体（ILs）进行原位功能化，以增强电催化析氢反应（HER）。理论计算和实验结果表明，用咪唑鎓离子液体对碳纳米管进行功能化促进了电子转移过程，并表现出优异的氢吸附性能，从而提高了析氢反应的性能。特别是，CNT-IM-Cl表现出优异的电催化活性，其起始过电位低，塔菲尔斜率分别为80 mV和38 mV dec-1。本研究突出了IL原位功能化无金属CNT用于电催化HER的巨大潜力，并为高效电催化剂的结构设计提供了见解。
