Issue 2, 2018

Highly efficient oxygen evolution electrocatalysts prepared by using reduction-engraved ferrites on graphene oxide

Abstract

Rational design and synthesis of efficient, stable and low-cost electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is critical for renewable energy conversion and storage. Herein, the reduction-engraved strategy was adopted to treat crystalline ferrite nanoparticles, which are highly dispersed on graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets. This reduction treatment generated abundant oxygen vacancies on the surface of nano-scale ferrites and dramatically enhanced their surface area, ensuring that the ferrite nanoparticles possess more accessible active sites for OER, and improve their electronic conductivity. Reduced cobalt/nickel ferrite (Co0.5Ni0.5Fe2O4, r-CNF), cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4, r-CF) and nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4, r-NF) nanoparticles anchoring on the ultrathin GO nanosheets can act as highly active, stable and low-cost OER electrocatalysts in 1.0 M KOH solution. The r-CNF (Co : Ni = 1 : 1) on GO (r-CNFg) shows the best OER performance among the ferrite-based OER electrocatalysts, with an overpotential of 210 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in 1.0 M KOH solution, much more efficient than that of a commercial benchmark catalyst IrO2 (230 mV). The catalytic current density of r-CNFg at 1.49 V vs. RHE is about 50 times higher than that of CNF and CNFg. Also, it exhibits prominent electrochemical stability over 500 h in 1.0 M KOH.

Graphical abstract: Highly efficient oxygen evolution electrocatalysts prepared by using reduction-engraved ferrites on graphene oxide

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Research Article
Submitted
03 11 2017
Accepted
28 11 2017
First published
08 12 2017

Inorg. Chem. Front., 2018,5, 310-318

Highly efficient oxygen evolution electrocatalysts prepared by using reduction-engraved ferrites on graphene oxide

J. Tan, P. Sahoo, J. Wang, Y. Hu, Z. Zhang and T. Lu, Inorg. Chem. Front., 2018, 5, 310 DOI: 10.1039/C7QI00681K

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