Issue 27, 2022

Construction of three-dimensional cobalt sulfide/multi-heteroatom co-doped porous carbon as an efficient trifunctional electrocatalyst

Abstract

Exploring cost-effective non-precious metal electrocatalysts is vital for the large-scale application of clean energy conversion devices (i.e., fuel cells, metal–air batteries and water electrolysers). Herein, we present the construction of a three-dimensional cobalt sulfide/multi-heteroatom co-doped carbon composite as a trifunctional electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) through one-step sulfidation of zeolitic-imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) using sulfur powder as a sulfur source. By virtue of the distinct periodic metal–nitrogen coordination structure and the abundant micropores within the ZIF precursor, sub-10 nm Co9S8 nanoparticles (NPs) are homogenously anchored on a Co, S and N multi-heteroatom co-doped carbon framework with a large specific surface area that exposes sufficient reactive sites for these electrocatalytic reactions. The optimized Co9S8/CoNSC exhibits outstanding ORR, OER and HER performance, comparable or even superior to those of commercial Pt/C and RuO2. The small Co9S8 NPs and Co–Nx species embedded in the carbon matrix cooperatively catalyze the OER and ORR, while the HER catalysis is mainly contributed by Co9S8 NPs. Furthermore, the Co9S8/CoNSC shows outstanding anti-poisoning capability towards sulfur species during ORR catalysis with no obvious activity degradation observed in 0.1 M KOH containing 50 μM SO32− species, significantly outperforming commercial Pt/C. The assembled rechargeable Zn–air battery using the Co9S8/CoNSC as a cathode shows a high power density (150 mW cm−2) and the assembled water electrolyzer only requires 1.585 V at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 when using this material as an anode and a cathode. This work provides an effective strategy to design and synthesize efficient, durable and anti-poisoning cobalt chalcogenide-based trifunctional electrocatalysts for the large-scale application of clean energy conversion devices.

Graphical abstract: Construction of three-dimensional cobalt sulfide/multi-heteroatom co-doped porous carbon as an efficient trifunctional electrocatalyst

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 Kul 2022
Accepted
06 Kho 2022
First published
06 Kho 2022

Nanoscale, 2022,14, 9849-9859

Construction of three-dimensional cobalt sulfide/multi-heteroatom co-doped porous carbon as an efficient trifunctional electrocatalyst

J. Zhang, B. Cui, S. Jiang, H. Liu and M. Dou, Nanoscale, 2022, 14, 9849 DOI: 10.1039/D2NR01704K

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