Abstract
In this study, we report a 3D structured carbon foam electrode assembled from a bi-functional NiCo catalyst, carbon nanotubes (CNT), and a monolith 3D structured carbon foam (CF) as a highly active and stable electrode for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). When the NiCo@CNTs/CF electrode was used as an anode in OER, after the anodization step, the electrode required a small overpotential of 320 mV to reach the current density of 10 mA cm−2 and demonstrated excellent stability over a long testing time (total 30 h) in 1 M KOH. The as-prepared NiCo@CNTs/CF electrode also exhibited a good performance towards methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) with high current density, 100 mA cm−2 at 0.6 V vs. Ag/AgCl, and good stability in 1 M KOH plus 0.5 M CH3OH electrolyte. The NiCo@CNTs/CF catalyst/electrode provides a potential for application as an anode in water electrolysis and direct methanol fuel cells.
Highlights
IntroductionPublisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
In the water electrolysis process, under an applied potential, hydrogen is produced at cathode by hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), and oxygen gas is evolving at the anode through oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in which the sluggish kinetics of OER is the main cause leading to the higher energy consumption in the electrolysis system [2,3]
The results showed that the NiCo@carbon nanotubes (CNT)/carbon foam (CF) has a higher specific surface area (~110 m2 g−1 ) than the support surface (CNTs/CF, ~87 m2 g−1 ), due to the presence of NiCo nanostructures
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Metal hybrids [18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25] have been widely studied as promising electrocatalysts for OER owing to their low price, high activity, and good stability Among these earth-abundant electrocatalysts, NiCo based catalysts, such as NiCo2 O4 and NiCo hydroxides, which can be synthesized through hydrothermal or electrodeposition methods [26,27,28,29,30,31,32] have attracted significant research interest as promising electrocatalysts for OER and MOR. This raises the potential of the electrode to be used as an efficient, low-cost, and eco-friendly anode for OER in a water splitting system as well as MOR in a direct methanol fuel cell
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