High-Loading Cobalt Oxide Coupled with Nitrogen-Doped Graphene for Oxygen Reduction in Anion-Exchange-Membrane Alkaline Fuel Cells

Por favor, use este identificador para citar o enlazar este ítem: http://hdl.handle.net/10045/40173
Información del item - Informació de l'item - Item information
Título: High-Loading Cobalt Oxide Coupled with Nitrogen-Doped Graphene for Oxygen Reduction in Anion-Exchange-Membrane Alkaline Fuel Cells
Autor/es: He, Qinggang | Li, Qing | Khene, Samson | Ren, Xiaoming | López Suárez, Franz Edwin | Lozano-Castello, Dolores | Bueno López, Agustín | Wu, Gang
Grupo/s de investigación o GITE: Materiales Carbonosos y Medio Ambiente
Centro, Departamento o Servicio: Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Química Inorgánica | Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Universitario de Materiales
Palabras clave: Nanocomposite catalyst | High-loading cobalt oxide | Nitrogen-doped graphene | Oxygen reduction | Anion-exchange-membrane alkaline | Fuel cells
Área/s de conocimiento: Química Inorgánica
Fecha de publicación: 1-abr-2013
Editor: American Chemical Society
Cita bibliográfica: The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 2013, 117(17): 8697-8707. doi:10.1021/jp401814f
Resumen: A new nanocomposite catalyst consisting of high-loading cobalt oxide (CoO) on nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (rGO) for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) was prepared in this work. Its high activity for the ORR in alkaline electrolyte was determined using the rotating disk electrode technique, and further confirmed in real alkaline membrane fuel cells. A combination of physicochemical characterization (e.g., X-ray absorption and X-ray photoelectron spectra) and density functional theory (DFT) calculation suggests that cobalt(II) cations in the composite catalyst may coordinate with the pyridinic nitrogen atoms doped into graphene planes, most likely the active species for the ORR. Especially, the DFT calculations indicate that a stable rGO(N)–Co(II)–O–Co(II)–rGO(N) structure can be formed in the nitrogen-doped graphene catalyst. Kinetic parameter analysis shows a high selectivity of four-electron reduction on the composite catalyst during the ORR with an average electron transfer number of 3.75. A synergistic effect between the rGO(N) and CoO may exist, yielding a much higher catalytic activity on the CoO/rGO(N) catalyst, compared to either rGO(N) or CoO controls. The novel synthesis procedure utilizing rGO(N) to further couple Co(II) yields a high loading of Co species (24.7 wt %). Thus, a relatively thinner cathode in fuel cell can accommodate more active Co species and facilitate O2 transfer. Due to the high intrinsic activity and efficient mass transport, the CoO–rGO(N) ORR catalyst achieved approaching performance to state-of-the-art Pt/C cathodes in anion-exchange-membrane alkaline fuel cells.
Patrocinador/es: The financial support from the Los Alamos National Laboratory Early Career Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program for this work is gratefully acknowledged.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10045/40173
ISSN: 1932-7447 (Print) | 1932-7455 (Online)
DOI: 10.1021/jp401814f
Idioma: eng
Tipo: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Derechos: © 2013 American Chemical Society
Revisión científica: si
Versión del editor: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp401814f
Aparece en las colecciones:INV - MCMA - Artículos de Revistas

Archivos en este ítem:
Archivos en este ítem:
Archivo Descripción TamañoFormato 
Thumbnail2013_He_etal_JPCC_final.pdfVersión final (acceso restringido)1,43 MBAdobe PDFAbrir    Solicitar una copia


Todos los documentos en RUA están protegidos por derechos de autor. Algunos derechos reservados.