Bi2Te3 nanosheets promoted Pd for ethylene glycol electrooxidation both in the dark and under visible light irradiation.

Ethylene glycol electrooxidation catalyzed by Pd nanoparticles was found to be largely improved by Bi2Te3 nanosheets both in the dark and under visible light irradiation.

Efficient nanointerface hybridization in a nickel/cobalt oxide nanorod bundle structure for urea electrolysis.

Urea electrolysis has received great attention for the energy-relevant applications, and efficient nanostructured catalysts are required to overcome the sluggish urea oxidation kinetics. Herein, we noticed that the valence state of Ni in the hybrid Ni/Co oxide nanorods can be correlated to the catalytic capability for urea oxidation. Crystal lattice hybridization was found in the interface of Ni/Co oxide nanoparticles that assembled as a nanorod bundle structure. The more or the less of Ni2+/Ni3+ generated lower catalytic ability, and Ni/Co oxide with the optimum content of Ni2+/Ni3+ exhibited the highest catalytic ability for urea oxidation because of the efficient synergism, resulting from the formation of high valence state of Ni species and improved kinetics. A low onset potential of 1.29 V was required for the urea oxidation compared with the high onset potential of 1.52 V for water oxidation; high selectivity for urea oxidation was found in the potential below 1.50 V, and as a promising application for urea-assisted water electrolysis about 190 mV less was required to provide 10 mA cm-2 in the two-electrode system, indicating the energy-efficient nature for hydrogen evolution. The study provides some novel insights into the Ni/Co catalyst design and fabrication with efficient catalytic synergism for electrocatalysis.

Fluoridated Iron-Nickel Layered Double Hydroxide for Enhanced Performance in the Oxygen Evolution Reaction.

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are very promising but still far from satisfactory for catalyzing the electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in water electrolysis. Herein, it was found that the catalytic performance of iron-nickel LDHs for OER can be largely boosted by a facile and controllable fluoridation approach at low temperatures. Temperature dependence of the crystal structure and surface chemical state was observed for the simple fluoridation of the iron-nickel LDH. However, no significant surface roughness and electrochemical active surface area increases were found, which was probably owing to the structure change from nanosheets to nanorods. Significant improvements in the performance, including the catalytic activity, stability, efficiency, and kinetics, were found compared with the pristine iron-nickel LDH. Specifically, iron-nickel fluoride obtained at 250 °C afforded the lowest overpotential of 225 mV (no iR correction) to drive 10 mA cm-2 loaded on an inert glassy carbon electrode with a small Tafel slope of 79 mV dec-1 , outperforming the noble-metal IrO2 catalyst and most of the similar Fe-Ni based catalysts. The performance improvement could be mainly attributed to the phase-structure transfer from metal-O bonding in the FeNi-LDHs to metal-F bonding after fluoridation, which means it is easier to form the real active sites of Fe-doped high-valence Ni-(oxy)hydroxide over the iron-nickel fluoride surface.

Electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction catalyzed by a novel nickel-cobalt-fluoride catalyst.

A nanostructured nickel and cobalt fluoride catalyst is constructed by a facile strategy carried out in a mixture of ionic liquids under microwave irradiation followed by low temperature thermal-annealing. It is a novel and robust material among the non-noble metal catalysts towards the oxygen evolution reaction in water electrolysis.

Meso/macroporous nitrogen-doped carbon architectures with iron carbide encapsulated in graphitic layers as an efficient and robust catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction in both acidic and alkaline solutions.

Meso-/macroporous nitrogen-doped carbon architectures with iron carbide encapsulated in graphitic layers are fabricated by a facile approach. This efficient and robust material exhibits superior catalytic performance toward the oxygen reduction reaction in both acidic and alkaline solutions and is the most promising alternative to a Pt catalyst for use in electrochemical energy devices.