School of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Shanghai Polytechnic University, Shanghai 201209, P. R. China.
School of Materials and Chemistry, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, P. R. China.
Nanoscale. 2023 Mar 30;15(13):6321-6332. doi: 10.1039/d2nr06561d.
Development of economical, efficient and durable non-noble metal electrocatalysts for the hydrogen/oxygen evolution reaction (HER/OER) holds great promise, but still faces great challenges. Herein, a strategy of doping metal borides with rare earth metal oxides and introducing silicon carbide (SiC) quantum dots has been explored to develop efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts. A novel electrocatalyst consists of SiC quantum dot-decorated CeO-NiB supported on nickel foam a one-step mild electroless plating reaction (denoted as CeO-NiB/SiC@NF). Notably, the modulated electron density of the CeO-NiB/SiC@NF electrode significantly boosts the electrochemically active surface area and electron transfer, and optimizes the hydrogen/water absorption free energy, which delivers current densities of 50 mA cm and 10 mA cm at overpotentials of only 131 mV and 234 mV for the HER and the OER, respectively. The target electrode requires only 1.43 V to provide 10 mA cm for overall water splitting in 1.0 M KOH. Moreover, the electrode also exhibits good stability and durability at the industrial-grade current density (0.5-1 A cm). This work provides a new idea for the development of efficient and durable non-precious metal catalysts.
开发经济、高效、耐用的非贵金属析氢/析氧反应（HER/OER）电催化剂具有很大的前景，但仍面临巨大的挑战。在此，探索了一种在金属硼化物中掺杂稀土金属氧化物并引入碳化硅（SiC）量子点的策略，以开发高效的双功能电催化剂。一种新型电催化剂由负载在泡沫镍上的 SiC 量子点修饰的 CeO-NiB 组成，这是通过一步温和的化学镀反应（表示为 CeO-NiB/SiC@NF）实现的。值得注意的是，CeO-NiB/SiC@NF 电极的调制电子密度显著提高了电化学活性表面积和电子转移，并优化了氢/水吸收自由能，使 HER 和 OER 的电流密度分别在仅 131 mV 和 234 mV 的过电势下达到 50 mA cm 和 10 mA cm。目标电极仅需 1.43 V 即可在 1.0 M KOH 中提供 10 mA cm 的整体水分解。此外，该电极在工业级电流密度（0.5-1 A cm）下也表现出良好的稳定性和耐久性。这项工作为开发高效、耐用的非贵金属催化剂提供了新的思路。
