PbO2 modified with TiO2-NTs composite materials with enhanced OER electrocatalytic activity for Zn electrowinning.

The high oxygen evolution overpotential of the Pb-Ag anode is one of the main reasons for the high energy consumption in Zn electrowinning. PbO2, owing to its high conductivity, good corrosion resistance and low cost, is widely used as an excellent coating material. In present research, a novel composite Ti/TiO2-NTs/PbO2 material was synthesized through a facile anodization, annealing, electrochemical reduction and galvanostatic deposition. The surface morphology, internal structure and the mechanisms of TiO2-NTs enhancing electrochemical performance were discussed. The results show that the self-organized high aspect ratio TiO2-NTs with diameter of ∼120 nm and length of ∼8 µm were obtained on Ti substrate. The Ti/TiO2-NTs/PbO2 composite material exhibits excellent oxygen evolution performance and good stability in Zn electrowinning simulation solution (50 g L-1 Zn2+, 150 g L-1 H2SO4) at 35 °C. Its oxygen evolution overpotential is only 630 mV under current density 50 mA cm-2, which is 332 m lower than that of Pb-0.76 wt% Ag (η = 962 mV) and only increases 22 mV after 5000 cycles of CV scanning. Its outstanding electrochemical performance is mainly ascribed to the introduction of TiO2-NTs in Pb(CH3COO)2 media since it refines the crystal grains, increases the electrochemical surface area, greatly reduces the charge transfer resistance (25.4 Ω cm2 to 2.337 Ω cm2) and enhances corrosion resistance. Therefore, the Ti/TiO2-NTs/PbO2 material prepared in Pb(CH3COO)2 medium may be an ideal anode for Zn electrowinning.

Facile preparation of porous sheet-sheet hierarchical nanostructure NiO/Ni-Co-Mn-O x with enhanced specific capacity and cycling stability for high performance supercapacitors.

NiO, Ni-Co-Mn-O x and NiO/Ni-Co-Mn-O x on nickel foam substrates were prepared via a chemical bath deposition-calcination. The thermodynamic behavior was observed by TG/DTA. The chemical structure and composition, phase structure and microstructures were tested by XPS, XRD, FE-SEM and TEM. The electrochemical performance was measured by CV, GCD and EIS. The mechanism for formation and enhancing electrochemical performance is also discussed. Firstly, the precursors such as NiOOH, CoOOH and MnOOH grow on nickel foam substrates from a homogeneous mixed solution via chemical bath deposition. Thereafter, these precursors are calcined and decomposed into NiO, Co3O4 and MnO2 respectively under different temperatures in a muffle furnace. Notably, NiO/Ni-Co-Mn-O x on nickel foam substrates reveals a high specific capacity with 1023.50 C g-1 at 1 A g-1 and an excellent capacitance retention with 103.94% at 5 A g-1 after 3000 cycles in 2 M KOH, its outstanding electrochemical performance and cycling stability are mainly attributed to a porous sheet-sheet hierarchical nanostructure and synergistic effects of pseudo-capacitive materials and excellent redox reversibility. Therefore, this research offers a facile synthesis route to transition metal oxides for high performance supercapacitors.