Back to Search
Start Over
Carbon-Armored Co9S8Nanoparticles as All-pH Efficient and Durable H2-Evolving Electrocatalysts
- Source :
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces; January 2015, Vol. 7 Issue: 1 p980-988, 9p
- Publication Year :
- 2015
-
Abstract
- Splitting water to produce hydrogen requires the development of non-noble-metal catalysts that are able to make this reaction feasible and energy efficient. Herein, we show that cobalt pentlandite (Co9S8) nanoparticles can serve as an electrochemically active, noble-metal-free material toward hydrogen evolution reaction, and they work stably in neutral solution (pH 7) but not in acidic (pH 0) and basic (pH 14) media. We, therefore, further present a carbon-armoring strategy to increase the durability and activity of Co9S8over a wider pH range. In particular, carbon-armored Co9S8nanoparticles (Co9S8@C) are prepared by direct thermal treatment of a mixture of cobalt nitrate and trithiocyanuric acid at 700 °C in N2atmosphere. Trithiocyanuric acid functions as both sulfur and carbon sources in the reaction system. The resulting Co9S8@C material operates well with high activity over a broad pH range, from pH 0 to 14, and gives nearly 100% Faradaic yield during hydrogen evolution reaction under acidic (pH 0), neutral (pH 7), and basic (pH 14) media. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a transition-metal chalcogenide material is shown to have all-pH efficient and durable electrocatalytic activity. Identifying Co9S8as the catalytically active phase and developing carbon-armoring as the improvement strategy are anticipated to give a fresh impetus to rational design of high-performance noble-metal-free water splitting catalysts.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19448244
- Volume :
- 7
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Supplemental Index
- Journal :
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Publication Type :
- Periodical
- Accession number :
- ejs34485260
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1021/am507811a