Iridium‐Doped N‐Rich Mesoporous Carbon Electrocatalyst with Synthetic Macrocycles as Carbon Source for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

AbstractUtilizing supramolecular synthetic macrocycles with distinct porous structures and abundant functional groups as a precursor for metal‐doped carbon electrocatalysts can endow the resulting materials with great potential in electrocatalysis. Herein, iridium‐doped electrocatalysts (CBC‐Ir), using a synthetic macrocycle named cucurbit[6]uril as the carbon source precursor, are designed and prepared. Interestingly, owing to the numerous N‐containing backbone and unique porous structure from cucurbit[6]uril self‐assembly, the newly designed catalysts CBC‐Ir possess abundant N‐doped and mesoporous structures without the need of additional N sources and templates. The catalysts exhibit superior catalytic performance toward the hydrogen evolution reaction with high Faradaic efficiency (91.5% and 92.7%), superior turnover frequency (2.1 and 0.69 H2 s−1) at the 50 mV overpotential, and only 17 and 33 mV overpotentials in acidic and alkaline conditions reaching the current density of 10 mA cm−2, better than the commercial Pt/C (28 and 43 mV). This work not only expands the application of supramolecular macrocycles in the water splitting field but also provides a new approach for preparing robust electrocatalysts.