Tan Bin, Wu Zhao-Feng, Xie Zai-Lai
State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350008, China.
State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, 350002, China.
Sci Bull (Beijing). 2017 Aug 30;62(16):1132-1141. doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2017.08.011. Epub 2017 Aug 10.
Efficient electrode material is crucial for energy conversion from renewable sources such as solar electricity. We present a method for preparation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs, e.g., ZIF-8) via an in situ pyrolysis process. The resultant materials are completely new carbon composites with desirable hierarchical porosity and nitrogen-doped features. Electron microscopy images show that CNTs with small external diameters enable more uniform dispersion of ZIF-8-derived carbons, subsequently yielding a unique hierarchically porous structure. Such carbon shows superior activity in oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and high performance of supercapacitance, making it a valuable metal-free electrode material and a competent alternative to the state-of-the-art Pt/C catalyst. The electrocatalytic performance of CNTs can be dramatically improved by the incorporation of ZIF-8-derived carbons, which is attributed to the combination of good conductivity, abundant accessible dopant species, as well as proper porosity. Our method offers a new avenue for constructing electrocatalysts by effective integration of ZIF-8-derived carbon and the CNTs skeleton.
高效的电极材料对于从太阳能等可再生能源进行能量转换至关重要。我们提出了一种通过原位热解过程制备具有沸石咪唑酯骨架（ZIFs，例如ZIF-8）的碳纳米管（CNTs）的方法。所得材料是具有理想分级孔隙率和氮掺杂特征的全新碳复合材料。电子显微镜图像表明，外径较小的碳纳米管能够使ZIF-8衍生的碳更均匀地分散，随后产生独特的分级多孔结构。这种碳在氧还原反应（ORR）中表现出优异的活性和高性能的超级电容，使其成为一种有价值的无金属电极材料，并且是现有Pt/C催化剂的有力替代品。通过引入ZIF-8衍生的碳，可以显著提高碳纳米管的电催化性能，这归因于良好的导电性、丰富的可及掺杂物种以及适当的孔隙率的结合。我们的方法为通过有效整合ZIF-8衍生的碳和碳纳米管骨架来构建电催化剂提供了一条新途径。
