Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2024, Vol. 66: 212-222.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(24)60121-X

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High-efficiency electrochemical H2O2 synthesis by heteroatom-doped NiX/Ni nanocomposites with honeycomb-like porous carbon

Mengran Liua,1, Canyu Liua,1, Tianfang Yangb, Shixiang Hua, Siyun Lia, Shizhe Liub, Yang Liua, Ye Chena, Bingcheng Gea,*(), Shuyan Gaoa,b,*()   

  1. aSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, Henan, China
    bSchool of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, Henan, China
  • Received:2024-07-01 Accepted:2024-08-22 Online:2024-11-18 Published:2024-11-10
  • Contact: *E-mail: shuyangao@htu.cn (S. Gao),gebingcheng@htu.edu.cn (B. Ge).
  • About author:1Contributed equally to this work.
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(U52272293);Fellowship of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2021M701116);Fellowship of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2021M690930)

Abstract:

Transition metal Ni anchored in carbon material represents outstanding 2e- oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic selectivity, but enhancing the adsorption strength of intermediate *OOH to promote its selectivity remains a major challenge. Herein, the NiX/Ni@NCHS composite catalyst with heteroatom doping (O,S) is modulated by controlling partial pyrolysis strategies on honeycomb-like porous carbon to manipulate the electronic structure of the metal Ni. With the synergistic effect of honeycomb structure and O atom, NiO/Ni@NCHS-700 exhibits an exceptional H2O2 selectivity of above 89.1% across a wide potential range from 0.1 to 0.6 V in an alkaline electrolyte, and an unexpected H2O2 production rate up to 1.47 mol gcat-1 h-1@0.2 V, which outperforms most of the state-of-the-art catalyst. Meanwhile, NiS/Ni@NCHS exhibits excellent electrocatalytic performance, with 2e- ORR selectivity of 91.3%, H2O2 yield of 1.85 mol gcat-1 h-1@0.3 V. Density functional theory simulations and experiments results reveal that the heteroatom doping (O,S) method has been employed to regulate the adsorption strength of Ni atoms with *OOH, and combined with the self-sacrificing template-assisted pyrolysis approach to improve the microstructure of catalysts and optimize the active site. The heteroatom doping method in this work provides significant guidance for promoting 2e- ORR electrocatalysis to produce H2O2.

Key words: NiX/Ni@NCHS composite catalyst, 2e- oxygen reduction reaction, Honeycomb-like porous carbon, Density functional theory, Electrocatalysis