- Title
- Engineering catalytic active sites on cobalt oxide surface for enhanced oxygen electrocatalysis
- Creator
- Han, Xiaopeng; He, Guowei; He, Yu; Zhang, Jinfeng; Zheng, Xuerong; Li, Lanlan; Zhong, Cheng; Hu, Wenbin; Deng, Yida; Ma, Tian-Yi
- Relation
- Advanced Energy Materials Vol. 8, Issue 10, no. 1702222
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201702222
- Publisher
- Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2018
- Description
- Tuning the catalytic active sites plays a crucial role in developing low cost and highly durable oxygen electrode catalysts with precious metal-competitive activity. In an attempt to engineer the active sites in Co3O4 spinel for oxygen electrocatalysis in alkaline electrolyte, herein, controllable synthesis of surface-tailored Co3O4 nanocrystals including nanocube (NC), nanotruncated octahedron (NTO), and nanopolyhedron (NP) anchored on nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-rGO), through a facile and template-free hydrothermal strategy, is provided. The as-synthesized Co3O4 NC, NTO, and NP nanostructures are predominantly enclosed by {001}, {001} + {111}, and {112} crystal planes, which expose different surface atomic configurations of Co2+ and Co3+ active sites. Electrochemical results indicate that the unusual {112} plane enclosed Co3O4 NP on rGO with abundant Co3+ sites exhibit superior bifunctional activity for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions, as well as enhanced metal–air battery performance in comparison with other counterparts. Experimental and theoretical simulation studies demonstrate that the surface atomic arrangement of Co2+/Co3+ active sites, especially the existence of octahedrally coordinated Co3+ sites, optimizes the adsorption, activation, and desorption features of oxygen species. This work paves the way to obtain highly active, durable, and cost-effective electrocatalysts for practical clean energy devices through regulating the surface atomic configuration and catalytic active sites.
- Subject
- Co3O4 spinel; controllable synthesis; metal-air batteries; nanocomposite; oxygen electrocatalysis; SDG 7; Sustainable Development Goals
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1452941
- Identifier
- uon:44543
- Identifier
- ISSN:1614-6832
- Language
- eng
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