−60 °C solution synthesis of atomically dispersed cobalt electrocatalyst with superior performance

Kai Huang, Le Zhang, Ting Xu, Hehe Wei, Ruoyu Zhang, Xiaoyuan Zhang (), Binghui Ge (), Ming Lei, Jing-Yuan Ma, Li-Min Liu () and Hui Wu ()
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Kai Huang: Tsinghua University
Le Zhang: Beijing Computational Science Research Center
Ting Xu: Tsinghua University
Hehe Wei: Tsinghua University
Ruoyu Zhang: Tsinghua University
Xiaoyuan Zhang: Tsinghua University
Binghui Ge: Anhui University
Ming Lei: Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Jing-Yuan Ma: Chinese Academy of Science
Li-Min Liu: Beijing Computational Science Research Center
Hui Wu: Tsinghua University

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Temperature can govern morphologies, structures and properties of products from synthesis in solution. A reaction in solution at low temperature may result in different materials than at higher temperature due to thermodynamics and kinetics of nuclei formation. Here, we report a low-temperature solution synthesis of atomically dispersed cobalt in a catalyst with superior performance. By using a water/alcohol mixed solvent with low freezing point, liquid-phase reduction of a cobalt precursor with hydrazine hydrate is realized at −60 °C. A higher energy barrier and a sluggish nucleation rate are achieved to suppress nuclei formation; thus atomically dispersed cobalt is successfully obtained in a catalyst for oxygen reduction with electrochemical performance superior to that of a Pt/C catalyst. Furthermore, the atomically dispersed cobalt catalyst is applied in a microbial fuel cell to obtain a high maximum power density (2550 ± 60 mW m−2) and no current drop upon operation for 820 h.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08484-8

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