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Nano Research 2018, 11(3): 1389-1398 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1754-5
Research Article | Issue | Published: 02 February 2018

Graphene as an intermediary for enhancing the electron transfer rate: A free-standing Ni3S2@graphene@Co9S8 electrocatalytic electrode for oxygen evolution reaction

Show Author's Information Qiuchun Dong,  Yizhou Zhang,  Ziyang Dai,  Peng Wang,  Min Zhao,  Jinjun Shao( ),  Wei Huang( ),  Xiaochen Dong( )
Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM)Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM)Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech)30 South Puzhu RoadNanjing211816China
Keywords:
graphene, oxygen evolution reaction, three-dimensional, Ni3S2@G@Co9S8
Cite this article:
Dong Q, Zhang Y, Dai Z, et al. Graphene as an intermediary for enhancing the electron transfer rate: A free-standing Ni3S2@graphene@Co9S8 electrocatalytic electrode for oxygen evolution reaction. Nano Research, 2018, 11(3): 1389-1398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1754-5
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

A highly active and stable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst is critical for hydrogen production from water splitting. Herein, three-dimensional Ni3S2@graphene@Co92S8 (Ni3S2@G@Co9S8), a sandwich-structured OER electrocatalyst, was grown in situ on nickel foam; it afforded an enhanced catalytic performance when highly conductive graphene is introduced as an intermediary for enhancing the electron transfer rate and stability. Serving as a free-standing electrocatalytic electrode, Ni3S2@G@Co9S8 presents excellent electrocatalytic activities for OER: A low onset overpotential (2 mA·cm-2 at 174 mV), large anode current density (10 mA·cm-2 at an overpotential of 210 mV), low Tafel slope (66 mV·dec-1), and predominant durability of over 96 h (releasing a current density of ~14 mA·cm-2 with a low and constant overpotential of 215 mV) in a 1 M KOH solution. This work provides a promising, cost-efficient electrocatalyst and sheds new light on improving the electrochemical performance of composites through enhancing the electron transfer rate and stability by introducing graphene as an intermediary.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Graphene as an intermediary for enhancing the electron transfer rate: A free-standing Ni3S2@graphene@Co9S8 electrocatalytic electrode for oxygen evolution reaction

Show Author's information Qiuchun Dong, Yizhou Zhang, Ziyang Dai, Peng Wang, Min Zhao, Jinjun Shao( ), Wei Huang( ), Xiaochen Dong( )
Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM)Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM)Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech)30 South Puzhu RoadNanjing211816China

Abstract

A highly active and stable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst is critical for hydrogen production from water splitting. Herein, three-dimensional Ni3S2@graphene@Co92S8 (Ni3S2@G@Co9S8), a sandwich-structured OER electrocatalyst, was grown in situ on nickel foam; it afforded an enhanced catalytic performance when highly conductive graphene is introduced as an intermediary for enhancing the electron transfer rate and stability. Serving as a free-standing electrocatalytic electrode, Ni3S2@G@Co9S8 presents excellent electrocatalytic activities for OER: A low onset overpotential (2 mA·cm-2 at 174 mV), large anode current density (10 mA·cm-2 at an overpotential of 210 mV), low Tafel slope (66 mV·dec-1), and predominant durability of over 96 h (releasing a current density of ~14 mA·cm-2 with a low and constant overpotential of 215 mV) in a 1 M KOH solution. This work provides a promising, cost-efficient electrocatalyst and sheds new light on improving the electrochemical performance of composites through enhancing the electron transfer rate and stability by introducing graphene as an intermediary.

Keywords: graphene, oxygen evolution reaction, three-dimensional, Ni3S2@G@Co9S8

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 08 May 2017
Revised: 28 June 2017
Accepted: 30 June 2017
Published: 02 February 2018
Issue date: March 2018

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Nos. 61525402 and 5161101159), Key University Science Research Project of Jiangsu Province (No. 15KJA430006), QingLan Project, National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents (No. BX201600072), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2016M601792).

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