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Research Article

High coercivity cobalt carbide nanoparticles as electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction

Yaqin QieYixuan LiuFanqi KongZhilin YangHua Yang( )
College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
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Graphical Abstract

An improved solution pyrolysis route was used to synthesize single-phase cobalt carbides with high coercivity and excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalytic activities, in which cobalt nanoparticles (NPs) with different structures were used as raw materials.

Abstract

Cobalt carbide nanoparticles (NPs), as a typical carbide material, have attracted extensive attention in the fields of magnetism and electrochemistry. Herein, we adopted a modified solution route by pyrolysis long-chain amines at high temperatures to obtain Co2C NPs, in which different forms of Co NPs were used as precursors. The results reveal that no matter what the structure of the precursor and the type of long-chain amine, single-phase Co2C NPs with good crystallinity are obtained. At the same time, carbonization of hexagonal close packed (hcp) cobalt as the precursor gives the materials high magnetic anisotropy, exhibiting a large coercivity (~ 1,300 Oe) on the nanoscale. In terms of catalytic properties, benefiting from intrinsically high activity of Co2C NPs, the material demonstrates superior hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance, with optimal overpotential as low as 73 mV at the current density of 10 mA·cm−2. This provides new ideas for the further development of transition metal carbides (TMCs) and the improvement of their magnetic and electrocatalytic properties.

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Nano Research
Pages 3901-3906
Cite this article:
Qie Y, Liu Y, Kong F, et al. High coercivity cobalt carbide nanoparticles as electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction. Nano Research, 2022, 15(5): 3901-3906. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-4036-1
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Received: 05 August 2021
Revised: 26 November 2021
Accepted: 01 December 2021
Published: 14 January 2022
©  Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021
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