Abstract
The exploration of earth-abundant electrocatalysts with high performance for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is eminently desirable and remains a significant challenge. The composite of the metal-organic framework (MOF) Ni10Co-BTC (BTC = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate) and the highly conductive carbon material ketjenblack (KB) could be easily obtained from the MOF synthesis in the presence of KB in a one-step solvothermal reaction. The composite and the pristine MOF perform better than commercially available Ni/NiO nanoparticles under the same conditions for the OER. Activation of the nickel-cobalt clusters from the MOF can be seen under the applied anodic potential, which steadily boosts the OER performance. Ni10Co-BTC and Ni10Co-BTC/KB are used as sacrificial agents and undergo structural changes during electrochemical measurements, the stabilized materials show good OER performances.
Highlights
The depletion of fossil fuels and their direct correlation in increasing global greenhouse gas emissions through their combustion show that the development of new sustainable clean energy sources is required [1,2,3]
The composite of Ni10 CoBTC and KB, named Ni10 Co-BTC/KB was generated through a facile metal-organic framework (MOF) synthesis in the presence of ketjenblack (KB) in a one-step solvothermal reaction at 170 ◦ C for 48 h from a mixture of Ni(NO3 )2· 6 H2 O, Co(NO3 )2· 6 H2 O, 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid (H3 BTC), 2-methylimidazole (2-MeImH), and KB in N,Ndimethylformamide (DMF) (Figure 1)
Ni10 Co-BTC and Ni10 Fe-BTC were synthesized for comparison
Summary
The depletion of fossil fuels and their direct correlation in increasing global greenhouse gas emissions through their combustion show that the development of new sustainable clean energy sources is required [1,2,3]. A possible solution is coupling renewable energy sources like solar and wind energy with electrochemical water splitting to convert surplus electrical energy into storable hydrogen fuel [4,5,6,7]. Electrochemical water splitting consists of two half reactions, the cathodic hydrogen evolution reaction The OER involves a four electron-proton coupled transfer process to generate one oxygen molecule and occurs at an applied potential (overpotential η) much higher than the theoretical equilibrium potential of E◦ = 1.23 V vs RHE [8,10,11,12,13,14].
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