高质量和深度凹陷的PtPdNi纳米立方体作为高效氧还原反应的催化剂

聚合物电解质燃料电池阴极上的氧还原反应需要使用铂基催化剂,铂是地球上的贵金属之一.采用将不同的金属优化到核心中等多种策略可提高铂基催化剂的活性,从而降低铂的负载量.通过致力于高催化活性Pt2.7Pd0.3Ni凹面立方结构与高指数晶面的复合,表明凹面结构可以提供更多的活性位和高水平的催化活性,如果与其他金属复合,可以降低...     

Oxygen reduction reaction on carbon-supported palladium nanocubes in alkaline media

Carbon-supported Pd nanocubes with the size of 30, 10 and 7 nm were prepared and their electrocatalytic activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline solution was studied. For comparison carbon-supported spherical Pd nanoparticles and commercial Pd/C catalyst were used. The catalysts were characterised by transmission electron microscopy, electro-oxidation of carbon monoxide and cyclic voltammetry and the ORR activity was evaluated using the rotating disk electrode method. The ORR on all studied Pd/C catalysts proceeded via four-electron pathway where the rate-limiting step was the transfer of the first electron to O₂ molecule. The specific activity of Pd nanocubes was more than two times higher than that of spherical Pd nanoparticles and increased with increasing the particle size.     

A layer-by-layer assembly label-free electrochemical immunosensor for the detection of microcystin-LR based on CHIT/PAMAM dendrimer/silver nanocubes

Utilising the affinity and high combination ability between silver nanocubes and amino group (–NH₂), a novel electrochemical immunosensor was constructed for the ultrasensitive detection of microcystin-LR (MC-LR) based on G4-polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer and Ag nanocubes as immobilised substrate of anti-MC-LR. G4-PAMAM dendrimers were covalently bound on the chitosan (CHIT) – modified electrode by glutaraldehyde (GA), providing abundant amino groups to absorb much more Ag nanocubes comparing without using PAMAM. Subsequently, antibodies of MC-LR were immobilised with highly dense through Ag-NH₂. K₃Fe(CN)₆/K₄Fe(CN)₆ was used as electroactive redox probe. Ag nanocubes/PAMAM can enhance the antibody loading amount, which would bind more MC-LR and hinder the electron transfer of K₃Fe(CN)₆/K₄Fe(CN)₆. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) was employed to evaluate the analytical performance of the fabricated signal-off immunosensor. The response current had negative correlation with the concentration of MC-LR. The linear range covered was from 0.05 ng/mL to 25 μg/mL with detection limit (DL) of 0.017 ng/mL at 3σ. The proposed approach showed high specificity for the detection of MC-LR, with acceptable reproducibility, stability and reliability. Compared with the enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) method by analyzing real water samples from Dian Lake, this immunosensor revealed acceptable accuracy with a relative error of 12.7%, indicating a potential alternative method for MC-LR detection in water sample.     

Nitrogen-doped graphene wrapped around silver nanowires for enhanced catalysis in oxygen reduction reaction

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Oxygen reduction reaction is the key process that determines the performances of fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Replacing highly expensive noble metal...     

Rapid precipitation-reduction synthesis of carbon-supported silver for efficient oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline solution

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Silver has emerged as a promising electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline membrane fuel cell for its high stability in alkaline...     

Relationship between polypyrrole morphology and electrochemical activity towards oxygen reduction reaction

The relationship between the morphology of polypyrrole and their electrocatalytic performances towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline media is described; annealed polypyrrole with granular- and tubules-like morphology exhibited different catalytic efficiencies.     

First principles based mean field model for oxygen reduction reaction

A first principles-based mean field model was developed for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) taking account of the coverage- and material-dependent reversible potentials of the elementary steps. This model was applied to the simulation of single crystal surfaces of Pt, Pt alloy and Pt core-shell catalysts under Ar and O(2) atmospheres. The results are consistent with those shown by past experimental and theoretical studies on surface coverages under Ar atmosphere, the shape of the current-voltage curve for the ORR on Pt(111) and the material-dependence of the ORR activity. This model suggests that the oxygen associative pathway including HO(2)(ads) formation is the main pathway on Pt(111), and that the rate determining step (RDS) is the removal step of O(ads) on Pt(111). This RDS is accelerated on several highly active Pt alloys and core-shell surfaces, and this acceleration decreases the reaction intermediate O(ads). The increase in the partial pressure of O(2)(g) increases the surface coverage with O(ads) and OH(ads), and this coverage increase reduces the apparent reaction order with respect to the partial pressure to less than unity. This model shows details on how the reaction pathway, RDS, surface coverages, Tafel slope, reaction order and material-dependent activity are interrelated.     

聚苯胺衍生Fe-N-C催化剂在碱性电解质中对氧还原反应的催化性能

经过热解聚苯胺、碳和FeCl₃的混合物制备的Fe-N-C材料在酸性电解质中对氧还原反应表现出高的催化活性;由于材料中不存在任何贵金属, 因而被认为是一类新型非贵金属氧还原催化剂. 然而这类催化剂在碱性电解质中催化氧还原反应的性能如何尚不清楚. 本文使用旋转圆盘电极技术考察了制备的两个Fe-N-C催化剂在KOH水溶液中催化氧还原反应性能, 发现这两个催化剂表现出比无金属的N掺杂碳材料更高的活性. 与商业Pt/C催化剂相比, 它们催化氧还原反应的起始电势和半波电势分别仅低60和40 mV左右, 计时电流测试表明, 它们比Pt/C催化剂显示出更好的稳定性. 此外, 在这两个Fe-N-C催化剂上的氧还原反应主要遵循四电子途径. 本工作显示, Fe-N-C材料有望用于碱性燃料电池氧还原反应催化剂.     

The oxygen reduction reaction at silver electrodes in high chloride media and the implications for silver nanoparticle toxicity

The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at neutral pH in various aqueous chloride-containing solutions was investigated voltammetrically. In particular, the ORR was performed in high chloride containing aqueous media including authentic and synthetic seawater under oxygen saturated conditions and compared with that in aqueous nitrate and perchlorate media. The experimental voltammograms revealed a two-electron process forming hydrogen peroxide in low chloride media. In contrast, high concentration chloride solutions, including both synthetic and authentic seawater showed an increase of overpotential, accompanied by a splitting of the voltammetric peak into two one-electron features indicating the formation of superoxide in the first step and its release from the silver-solution interface. The implications for silver nanoparticle toxicology are discussed given the markedly greater toxicity of superoxide over peroxide and the high levels of chloride in biological media as well as in seawater.

Superoxide produced at silver electrode in seawater.     

Study of polyol synthesis reaction parameters controlling high yield of silver nanocubes

The influence of the parameters and conditions of sodium sulfide-induced reaction of polyol synthesis of silver nanoparticles on the yield of cube-shaped particles and the optical properties of colloids is studied. The protocol proposed by Skrabalak et al. for the synthesis of nanocubes in small volumes (Nature Protocols, 2007, vol. 2, p. 2182) is taken as an initial variant for optimization. The effects of the reagent concentrations, degree of ethylene glycol oxygenation, the presence of impurities, reaction time, and temperature are studied. Suspensions containing nanoparticles with different shapes and sizes, including polydisperse particles of irregular shapes, silver nanocubes with a yield of 0 to 97%, nanoprisms, and nanorods, can be produced by varying the synthesis parameters. The key parameters controlling the yield of nanocubes are the degree of ethylene glycol oxygenation and the presence of trace amounts of ions of other metals (not silver). It is established that variations in the reaction time make it possible to vary the sizes of nanocubes in the range of 30–60 nm. Suspensions with high contents of cube-shaped particles are shown to exhibit three maxima in the plasmon extinction resonance spectrum at wavelengths of 350, 390, and, depending on the particle size, 435–470 nm.     

Biomass derived Fe-N/C catalyst for efficiently catalyzing oxygen reduction reaction in both alkaline and neutral pH conditions

Fe-N/C is a promising oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst to substitute the current widely used precious metal platinum. Cost-effectively fabricating the Fe-N/C material with high catalytic activity and getting in-depth insight into the responsible catalytic site are of great significance. In this work, we proposed to use biomass, tea leaves waste, as the precursor to prepare ORR catalyst. By adding 5% FeCl₃ (wt%) into tea precursor, the pyrolysis product (i.e., 5%Fe-N/C) exhibited an excellent four-electron ORR activity, whose onset potential was only 10 mV lower than that of commercial Pt/C. The limiting current density of 5%Fe-N/C (5.75 mA/cm²) was even higher than Pt/C (5.44 mA/cm²). Compared with other biomass or metal organic frameworks derived catalysts, 5%Fe-N/C showed similar ORR activity. Also, both the methanol tolerance and material stability performances of as-prepared 5%Fe-N/C catalyst were superior to that of Pt/C. X-ray adsorption fine structure characterization revealed that the FeN₄O₂ might be the possible catalytic site. An appropriate amount of iron chloride addition not only facilitated catalytic site formation, but also enhanced material conductivity and reaction kinetics. The results of this work may be useful for the Fe based transition metal ORR catalyst design and application.     

Effect of graphene surface functionalization on the oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline media

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Synthesis and study of catalysts of electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction based on polymer complexes of nickel and cobalt with Schiff bases

The article presents the results of studies of new nanosize catalysts of electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) obtained using the method of thermal decomposition of polymer complexes of nickel and cobalt with tetradentate (N₂O₂) Schiff bases. The catalysts are characterized using the methods of thermogravimetry, electrochemical quartz microgravimetry, scanning electron microscopy with X-ray microanalysis, XPS. The ORR process on electrodes modified by the above catalysts was studied using the voltammetry and rotating disk electrode techniques. The obtained catalysts manifested high specific activity per initial polymer mass (more than 600 mA/mg).     

Noble metal-free catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction

Developing noble metal-free catalysts with low cost, high performance and stability for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) in fuel cells is of great interest to promote sustainable energy devices. In this review, we summarized noble metal-free catalysts for ORR,including non-noble metal-based and heteroatom-doped carbon nanomaterials. Mesoporous structure, homogeneous distribution of nanocrystals and synergistic effect of carbon base and nanocrystals/doped heteroatoms have great effect on the ORR property.The noble metal-free nanomaterials showed comparable catalytic property, better stability and methanol tolerance than commercial platinum(Pt)-based catalysts, showing great potential as substitutes for noble metal-based catalysts. In addition, the challenges and chances of developing noble metal-free ORR catalysts are also discussed.     

Highly efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction

Highly efficient and chemically compatible LnxSr1-xCoO3-delta (Ln = La, Sm, Gd, ...)/Co3O4 electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction are presented and the very low cathode polarization resistances and excellent performances implied their promising application for developing intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), as well as potential application for oxygen separation membranes.     

Self-assembled naphthalenediimide derivative films for light-assisted electrochemical reduction of oxygen

This naphthalene diimide derivative, DC18, forms highly conjugated semiconducting stacked assemblies over electrodes after electrochemical conditioning. These molecular materials are very efficient towards electrochemical photoreduction of oxygen under visible light.