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Nano Research 2017, 10(8): 2599-2609 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1462-1
Research Article | Issue | Published: 24 March 2017

Enhanced electrocatalytic activity of Co@N-doped carbon nanotubes by ultrasmall defect-rich TiO2 nanoparticles for hydrogen evolution reaction

Show Author's Information Jiayuan Yu1,2,  Weijia Zhou1( ),  Tanli Xiong1,  Aili Wang1,2,  Shaowei Chen1,3,  Benli Chu2
School of Environment and Energy Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment and Pollution Control, South China University of Technology Guangzhou Higher Education Mega CenterGuangzhou 510006 China
School of Physics and Telecommunication Engineering South China Normal University Guangzhou Higher Education Mega CenterGuangzhou 510006 China
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry University of California, 1156 High StreetSanta Cruz CA 95064 USA
Keywords:
defect structure, carbon nanotube, TiO2, ultrasmall nanoparticle, hydrogen-evolution reaction
Cite this article:
Yu J, Zhou W, Xiong T, et al. Enhanced electrocatalytic activity of Co@N-doped carbon nanotubes by ultrasmall defect-rich TiO2 nanoparticles for hydrogen evolution reaction. Nano Research, 2017, 10(8): 2599-2609. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1462-1
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Despite being technically possible, splitting water to generate hydrogen is practically unfeasible, mainly because of the lack of sustainable and efficient earth-abundant catalysts for the hydrogen-evolution reaction (HER). Herein, we report a durable and highly active electrochemical HER catalyst based on defect-rich TiO2 nanoparticles loaded on Co nanoparticles@N-doped carbon nanotubes (D-TiO2/Co@NCT) synthesized by electrostatic spinning and a subsequent calcining process. The ultrasmall TiO2 nanoparticles are 1.5–2 nm in size and have a defect-rich structure of oxygen vacancies. D-TiO2/Co@NCT exhibits excellent HER catalytic activity in an acidic electrolyte (0.5 M H2SO4), with a low onset potential of −57.5 mV (1 mA·cm–2), a small Tafel slope of 73.5 mV·dec–1, and extraordinary long-term durability. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, and theoretical calculations confirm that the Ti3+ defect-rich structure can effectively regulate the catalytic activity for electrochemical water splitting.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Enhanced electrocatalytic activity of Co@N-doped carbon nanotubes by ultrasmall defect-rich TiO2 nanoparticles for hydrogen evolution reaction

Show Author's information Jiayuan Yu1,2, Weijia Zhou1( ), Tanli Xiong1, Aili Wang1,2, Shaowei Chen1,3, Benli Chu2
School of Environment and Energy Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment and Pollution Control, South China University of Technology Guangzhou Higher Education Mega CenterGuangzhou 510006 China
School of Physics and Telecommunication Engineering South China Normal University Guangzhou Higher Education Mega CenterGuangzhou 510006 China
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry University of California, 1156 High StreetSanta Cruz CA 95064 USA

Abstract

Despite being technically possible, splitting water to generate hydrogen is practically unfeasible, mainly because of the lack of sustainable and efficient earth-abundant catalysts for the hydrogen-evolution reaction (HER). Herein, we report a durable and highly active electrochemical HER catalyst based on defect-rich TiO2 nanoparticles loaded on Co nanoparticles@N-doped carbon nanotubes (D-TiO2/Co@NCT) synthesized by electrostatic spinning and a subsequent calcining process. The ultrasmall TiO2 nanoparticles are 1.5–2 nm in size and have a defect-rich structure of oxygen vacancies. D-TiO2/Co@NCT exhibits excellent HER catalytic activity in an acidic electrolyte (0.5 M H2SO4), with a low onset potential of −57.5 mV (1 mA·cm–2), a small Tafel slope of 73.5 mV·dec–1, and extraordinary long-term durability. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, and theoretical calculations confirm that the Ti3+ defect-rich structure can effectively regulate the catalytic activity for electrochemical water splitting.

Keywords: defect structure, carbon nanotube, TiO2, ultrasmall nanoparticle, hydrogen-evolution reaction

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 11 December 2016
Revised: 29 December 2016
Accepted: 01 January 2017
Published: 24 March 2017
Issue date: August 2017

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

We thank the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. D2153880), Project of Public Interest Research and Capacity Building of Guangdong Province (No. 2014A010106005) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51502096).

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