Cobalt-Copper-Embedded Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanostructures Derived from Zeolite Imidazolate Frameworks As Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Overview

Journal ACS Omega

Publisher American Chemical Society

Specialty Chemistry

Date 2024 Jul 15

PMID 39005836

Authors

Sunguk Noh

Hyejin Oh

Jihyun Kim

Sojin Jung

Jun Ho Shim

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

In recent years, researchers have focused on developing zeolite imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) as an alternative to Pt electrocatalysts for various applications, including water splitting, lithium-air batteries, zinc-air batteries, and fuel cells. In this study, we synthesized CoCu-ZIF to be used as a precursor in the development of cathode catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells. Hydrazine played a crucial role in maintaining uniformity in the development and particle size of the ZIF-67 structures. Moreover, it facilitated the rapid formation of the ZIF-67 structures at higher temperatures. A unique pseudorhombic dodecahedral morphology was obtained at a Co/Cu molar ratio of 7:3. Among all the synthesized N-doped carbon nanostructures embedded with Co and Cu nanoparticles, CoCu@NC-750, pyrolyzed at 750 °C, showed superior ORR catalytic performance. This catalyst exhibited a notably higher half-wave potential of 0.816 V and demonstrated a clear 4-electron transfer mechanism. The overpotential of CoCu@NC-750 shifted by only 11 mV over 10,000 cyclic voltammetry cycles, whereas a 55 mV shift was observed for Pt/C. CoCu@NC-750 exhibited a ∼0.8% decrease in current density during a 12-h ORR, in contrast to the 8.3% decline shown by Pt/C. This superior catalytic activity and stability can be attributed to factors such as higher oxygen adsorption induced by the N-doped carbon layer due to the localized changes in electron density and the enhanced stability of the bimetallic core. Our findings suggest that CoCu@NC-750 is a promising alternative to Pt/C in fuel cell cathodes.

References

Li X, Liang H, Liu X, Zhang Y, Liu Z, Fan H . Zeolite Imidazolate Frameworks (ZIFs) Derived Nanomaterials and their Hybrids for Advanced Secondary Batteries and Electrocatalysis. Chem Rec. 2022; 22(10):e202200105. DOI: 10.1002/tcr.202200105. View

Lu Y, Pan H, Lai J, Xia Y, Chen L, Liang R . Bimetallic CoCu-ZIF material for efficient visible light photocatalytic fuel denitrification. RSC Adv. 2022; 12(20):12702-12709. PMC: 9041090. DOI: 10.1039/d2ra01049f. View

Khan S, Noor T, Iqbal N, Pervaiz E, Yaqoob L . A zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-67) and graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) composite based efficient electrocatalyst for overall water-splitting reaction. RSC Adv. 2023; 13(36):24973-24987. PMC: 10442768. DOI: 10.1039/d3ra04783k. View

Liu Z, Zhao Z, Peng B, Duan X, Huang Y . Beyond Extended Surfaces: Understanding the Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Nanocatalysts. J Am Chem Soc. 2020; 142(42):17812-17827. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c07696. View

Zhang Y, Fu H, He C, Zhang H, Li Y, Yang G . Configuration Sensitivity of Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Nitrogen-Doped Graphene. J Phys Chem Lett. 2022; 13(26):6187-6193. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c01645. View

Gao J, Wang Y, Wu H, Liu X, Wang L, Yu Q . Construction of a sp /sp Carbon Interface in 3D N-Doped Nanocarbons for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2019; 58(42):15089-15097. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201907915. View

Nguyen A, Shim J . All carbon hybrid N-doped carbon dots/carbon nanotube structures as an efficient catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction. RSC Adv. 2022; 11(21):12520-12530. PMC: 8696981. DOI: 10.1039/d1ra01197a. View

Lv J, Lang Z, Fu J, Lan Q, Liu R, Zang H . Molecular Iron Oxide Clusters Boost the Oxygen Reduction Reaction of Platinum Electrocatalysts at Near-Neutral pH. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2022; 61(38):e202202650. PMC: 9546390. DOI: 10.1002/anie.202202650. View

Rodriguez-Manzo J, Janowska I, Pham-Huu C, Tolvanen A, Krasheninnikov A, Nordlund K . Growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes from sharp metal tips. Small. 2009; 5(23):2710-5. DOI: 10.1002/smll.200900590. View

10.

Wang J, Wang K, Wang F, Xia X . Bioinspired copper catalyst effective for both reduction and evolution of oxygen. Nat Commun. 2014; 5:5285. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6285. View

11.

Douka A, Xu Y, Yang H, Zaman S, Yan Y, Liu H . A Zeolitic-Imidazole Frameworks-Derived Interconnected Macroporous Carbon Matrix for Efficient Oxygen Electrocatalysis in Rechargeable Zinc-Air Batteries. Adv Mater. 2020; 32(28):e2002170. DOI: 10.1002/adma.202002170. View

12.

Mohsen M, Baraka A, Naeem I, Tantawy H, Awaad M, Abuzalat O . Effect of sulfur doping of zinc-imidazole coordination polymer (ZnIm CP) as a novel photocatalyst for degradation of ionic dyes. BMC Chem. 2022; 16(1):86. PMC: 9636770. DOI: 10.1186/s13065-022-00877-z. View

13.

Pumera M . Graphene-based nanomaterials and their electrochemistry. Chem Soc Rev. 2010; 39(11):4146-57. DOI: 10.1039/c002690p. View

14.

Flores-Lasluisa J, Huerta F, Cazorla-Amoros D, Morallon E . Transition metal oxides with perovskite and spinel structures for electrochemical energy production applications. Environ Res. 2022; 214(Pt 1):113731. DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113731. View

15.

Huang H, Yu D, Hu F, Huang S, Song J, Chen H . Clusters Induced Electron Redistribution to Tune Oxygen Reduction Activity of Transition Metal Single-Atom for Metal-Air Batteries. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2021; 61(12):e202116068. DOI: 10.1002/anie.202116068. View

16.

Wang L, Xu M, Li H, Huang Z, Wang L, Isimjan T . Mn-Doped Zn Metal-Organic Framework-Derived Porous N-Doped Carbon Composite as a High-Performance Nonprecious Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction and Aqueous/Flexible Zinc-Air Batteries. Inorg Chem. 2023; 62(33):13284-13292. DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c01536. View

17.

Yu H, Fisher A, Cheng D, Cao D . Cu,N-codoped Hierarchical Porous Carbons as Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2016; 8(33):21431-9. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b04189. View

18.

Ren Q, Wang H, Lu X, Tong Y, Li G . Recent Progress on MOF-Derived Heteroatom-Doped Carbon-Based Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2018; 5(3):1700515. PMC: 5867057. DOI: 10.1002/advs.201700515. View

19.

Jadhav H, Bandal H, Ramakrishna S, Kim H . Critical Review, Recent Updates on Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-67 (ZIF-67) and Its Derivatives for Electrochemical Water Splitting. Adv Mater. 2021; 34(11):e2107072. DOI: 10.1002/adma.202107072. View

20.

Lai Q, Zhu J, Zhao Y, Liang Y, He J, Chen J . MOF-Based Metal-Doping-Induced Synthesis of Hierarchical Porous CuN/C Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts for Zn-Air Batteries. Small. 2017; 13(30). DOI: 10.1002/smll.201700740. View