Browsing by Author "Peeters, Daniel"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Amorphous Cobalt Boride (Co 2 B) as a Highly Efficient Nonprecious Catalyst for Electrochemical Water Splitting: Oxygen and Hydrogen Evolution
    (Advanced Energy Materials, 2016) Masa, Justus; Weide, Philipp; Peeters, Daniel; Schuhmann, Wolfgang
    It is demonstrated that amorphous cobalt boride (Co2B) prepared by the chemical reduction of CoCl2 using NaBH4 is an exceptionally efficient electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline electrolytes and is simultaneously active for catalyzing the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The catalyst achieves a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at 1.61 V on an inert support and at 1.59 V when impregnated with nitrogen-doped graphene. Stable performance is maintained at 10 mA cm−2 for at least 60 h. The optimized catalyst, Co2B annealed at 500 °C (Co2B-500) evolves oxygen more efficiently than RuO2 and IrO2, and its performance matches the best cobalt-based catalysts reported to date. Co2B is irreversibly oxidized at OER conditions to form a CoOOH surface layer. The active form of the catalyst is therefore represented as CoOOH/Co2B. EXAFS observations indicate that boron induces lattice strain in the crystal structure of the metal, which potentially diminishes the thermodynamic and kinetic barrier of the hydroxylation reaction, formation of the OOH* intermediate, a key limiting step in the OER.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Nanoporous Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Oxide/Nickel Sulfide Composite Sheets Derived from a Metal-Organic Framework as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen and Oxygen Evolution
    (Advanced Functional Materials, 2017) Jayaramulu, Kolleboyina; Masa, Justus; Tomanec, Ondrej; Peeters, Daniel
    Engineering of controlled hybrid nanocomposites creates one of the most exciting applications in the fields of energy materials and environmental science. The rational design and in situ synthesis of hierarchical porous nanocomposite sheets of nitrogen-doped graphene oxide (NGO) and nickel sulfide (Ni7S6) derived from a hybrid of a well-known nickel-based metal-organic framework (NiMOF-74) using thiourea as a sulfur source are reported here. The nanoporous NGO/MOF composite is prepared through a solvothermal process in which Ni(II) metal centers of the MOF structure are chelated with nitrogen and oxygen functional groups of NGO. NGO/Ni7S6 exhibits bifunctional activity, capable of catalyzing both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with excellent stability in alkaline electrolytes, due to its high surface area, high pore volume, and tailored reaction interface enabling the availability of active nickel sites, mass transport, and gas release. Depending on the nitrogen doping level, the properties of graphene oxide can be tuned toward, e.g., enhanced stability of the composite compared to commonly used RuO2 under OER conditions. Hence, this work opens the door for the development of effective OER/HER electrocatalysts based on hierarchical porous graphene oxide composites with metal chalcogenides, which may replace expensive commercial catalysts such as RuO2 and IrO2.