Engineering of the Heterointerface of Porous Carbon Nanofiber–Supported Nickel and Manganese Oxide Nanoparticle for Highly Efficient Bifunctional Oxygen Catalysis
February 9, 2020
Publication
Engineering of the Heterointerface of Porous Carbon Nanofiber–Supported Nickel and Manganese Oxide Nanoparticle for Highly Efficient Bifunctional Oxygen Catalysis
Constructing heterointerfaces between metals and metal compounds is
an attractive strategy for the fabrication of high performance electrocatalysts.
However, realizing the high degree of fusion of two different metal
components to form heterointerfaces remains a great challenge, since
the different metal components tend to grow separately in most cases.
Herein, by employing carboxyl-modified carbon nanotubes to stabilize
different metal ions, the engineering of abundant Ni|MnO heterointerfaces
is achieved in porous carbon nanofibers (Ni|MnO/CNF) during the
electrospinning–calcination process. Remarkably, the resulting Ni|MnO/
CNF catalyst exhibits activities that are among the best reported for the
catalysis of both the oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions.
Moreover, the catalyst also demonstrates high power density and long
cycle life in Zn–air batteries. Its superior electrochemical properties are
mainly ascribed to the synergy between the engineering of oxygen-deficient
Ni|MnO heterointerfaces with a strong Ni/Mn alloying interaction
and the 1D porous CNF support. This facile anchoring strategy for the
initiation of bimetallic heterointerfaces creates appealing opportunities for
the potential use of heteronanomaterials in practical sustainable energy
applications.
Engineering of the Heterointerface of Porous Carbon Nanofiber–Supported Nickel and Manganese Oxide Nanoparticle for Highly Efficient Bifunctional Oxygen Catalysis