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The suitable materials, metal nitrides, are a promising class of electrocatalyst materials for a highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) because they exhibit superior intrinsic conductivity and have higher sustainability than oxide-based materials. To our knowledge, for the first time, we report a designable synthesis of three-dimensional (3D) and mesoporous Co3N@amorphous N-doped carbon (AN-C) nanocubes (NCs) with well-controlled open-framework structures via monodispersed Co3[Co(CN)6]2 Prussian blue analogue (PBA) NC precursors using in situ nitridation and calcination processes. Co3N@AN-C NCs (2 h) demonstrate better OER activity with a remarkably low Tafel plot (69.6 mV∙dec-1), low overpotential of 280 mV at a current density of 10 mA∙cm-2. Additionally, excellent cycling stability in alkaline electrolytes was exhibited without morphological changes and voltage elevations, superior to most reported hierarchical structures of transition-metal nitride particles. The presented strategy for synergy effects of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-derived transition-metal nitrides-carbon hybrid nanostructures provides prospects for developing high-performance and advanced electrocatalyst materials.


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In-situ formation of MOF derived mesoporous Co3N/amorphous N-doped carbon nanocubes as an efficient electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction

Show Author's information Bong Kyun Kang1,Seo Young Im2,Jooyoung Lee2Sung Hoon Kwag2Seok Bin Kwon2SintayehuNibret Tiruneh2Min-Jun Kim3Jung Ho Kim4,5Woo Seok Yang1Byungkwon Lim2Dae Ho Yoon2( )
Nano Materials and Components Research Center,Korea Electronics Technology Institute,Seongnam,463-816,Republic of Korea;
School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering,Sungkyunkwan University,Suwon,440-746,Republic of Korea;
Advanced Materials & Processing Center,Institute for Advanced Engineering (IAE),Yongin,175-28,Republic of Korea;
Australian Institute for Innovative Materials (AIIM),University of Wollongong,Squires Way, North Wollongong, NSW,2500,Australia;
Department of Advanced Materials Engineering for Information and Electronics,Kyung Hee University,1732 Deogyeong-daero, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do,17104,Republic of Korea;

Present address: Nano Materials and Components Research Center, Korea Electronics Technology Institute, Seongnam 463-816, Republic of Korea, School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746, Republic of Korea

Abstract

The suitable materials, metal nitrides, are a promising class of electrocatalyst materials for a highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) because they exhibit superior intrinsic conductivity and have higher sustainability than oxide-based materials. To our knowledge, for the first time, we report a designable synthesis of three-dimensional (3D) and mesoporous Co3N@amorphous N-doped carbon (AN-C) nanocubes (NCs) with well-controlled open-framework structures via monodispersed Co3[Co(CN)6]2 Prussian blue analogue (PBA) NC precursors using in situ nitridation and calcination processes. Co3N@AN-C NCs (2 h) demonstrate better OER activity with a remarkably low Tafel plot (69.6 mV∙dec-1), low overpotential of 280 mV at a current density of 10 mA∙cm-2. Additionally, excellent cycling stability in alkaline electrolytes was exhibited without morphological changes and voltage elevations, superior to most reported hierarchical structures of transition-metal nitride particles. The presented strategy for synergy effects of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-derived transition-metal nitrides-carbon hybrid nanostructures provides prospects for developing high-performance and advanced electrocatalyst materials.

Keywords: transition-metal nitride, metal organic framework, mesoporous, oxygen evaluation reaction, alkaline water electrolysis

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 11 December 2018
Revised: 08 March 2019
Accepted: 01 April 2019
Published: 23 April 2019
Issue date: July 2019

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (No. NRF- 2016R1A2B4015801).

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