Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cobalt–nickel bimetallic hybridized nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon as efficient oxygen reduction electrocatalyst

  • Published:
Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Efficient and cost-effective non-precious metal catalysts play a crucial role in the evolution of energy storage and conversion technologies. This work introduces a novel cobalt–nickel bimetallic catalyst (Cox/Niy–N–C), synthesized via SiO2 spheres as templates and ZIF-8 as precursors, aiming to address this critical need. The Co1Ni1–N–C catalyst, synthesized with a 1:1 Co to Ni doping ratio, displayed exceptional electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction. Its impressive half-wave potential of 0.81 V and limiting current density of 4.89 mA cm−2 nearly approached those of Pt/C catalysts (0.82 V and 5.09 mA cm−2), showcasing its competitive edge. Integration of the Co1Ni1–N–C catalyst into a zinc-air battery demonstrated substantial promise, yielding a commendable power density of 185.17 mW cm−2, marginally trailing behind the commercial Pt/C catalyst (198.33 mW cm−2). By offering a cost-effective alternative without compromising efficiency, this research significantly contributes to the wider adoption of sustainable energy technologies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).

References

  1. M.M. Bu, Y. Liu, S.X. Liao et al., In-site grown carbon nanotubes connecting Fe/Cu-N-C polyhedrons as robust electrocatalysts for Zn-air batteries. Carbon 214, 118365 (2023)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. N.F.H.N. Zaiman, N. Shaari et al., Review on flower-like structure nickel based catalyst in fuel cell application. J. Ind. Eng. Chem. 119, 1–76 (2023)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. M. Sridharan, T. Maiyalagan, Synergistically enhanced electrocatalytic activity of cerium oxide/manganese tungstate composite for oxygen reduction reaction. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. 33, 9538–9548 (2022)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. X.L. Tian, X.F. Lu, B.Y. Xia et al., Advanced electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction in energy conversion technologies. Joule. 4, 45–68 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. H.C. Huang, C.Y. Su, K.C. Wang et al., Nanostructured cementite/ferrous sulfide encapsulated carbon with heteroatoms for oxygen reduction in alkaline environment. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 7, 3185–3194 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. S.Y. Yu, Z. Guo, Y. Zhou et al., Research progress of MOFs/carbon nanocomposites on promoting ORR in microbial fuel cell cathodes. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 30, 93422–93434 (2023)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. H.W. Gao, Y.H. Wang, W. Li et al., One-step carbonization of ZIF-8 in Mn-containing ambience to prepare Mn, N co-doped porous carbon as efficient oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalyst. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 46, 36742–36752 (2021)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. W.M. Yang, X.Y. Wang, Y.F. Yan et al., Co3O4 nanofibers compounded with Pt/C as efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts for rechargeable Zn-air battery. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. 34, 871 (2023)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. S.L. Zhao, Z.Z. Ma, Z.H. Wan et al., Noble-Metal-Free FeMn-N-C catalyst for efficient oxygen reduction reaction in both alkaline and acidic media. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 642, 800–809 (2023)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Q. Chen, Z. Zhang, R.Q. Zhang et al., Recent progress of non-Pt catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells. Processes. 11, 361 (2023)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. H.M. Xu, S.Q. Ci, Y.C. Ding et al., Recent advances in precious metal-free bifunctional catalysts for electrochemical conversion systems. J. Mater. Chem. A 7, 8006–8029 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. H. Zhang, Q.D. Sun, Q. He et al., Single Cu atom dispersed on S, N-codoped nanocarbon derived from shrimp shells for highly-efficient oxygen reduction reaction. Nano Res. 15, 5995–6000 (2022)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Q.H. Wu, M.L. Liu, N.Z. Shang et al., Preparation of N, S co-decorated carbon supported iron species for oxygen reduction and zinc air batteries. J. Alloys Compd. 848, 156367 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. C. Zhang, J. Liu, Y.X. Ye et al., Encapsulation of Co-based nanoparticle in N-doped graphitic carbon for efficient oxygen reduction reaction. Carbon 156, 31–37 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. S.B. Zou, J.J. Li, X.Q. Wu et al., Electrospun N-doped carbon nanofibers decorated with Fe3C nanoparticles as highly active oxygen reduction electrocatalysts for rechargeable Zn-air batteries. Chem. Phys. Lett. 778, 138769 (2021)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. W. Pei, S. Zhou, Y. Bai et al., N-doped graphitic carbon materials hybridized with transition metals (compounds) for hydrogen evolution reaction: understanding the synergistic effect from atomistic level. Carbon 133, 260–266 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. F.H. Lu, K.C. Fan, L.X. Cui et al., Engineering FeN4 active sites onto nitrogen-rich carbon with tubular channels for enhanced oxygen reduction reaction performance. Appl. Catal. B 313, 121464 (2022)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. L.J. Yang, J.L. Shui, L. Du et al., Carbon-based metal-free ORR electrocatalysts for fuel cells: past, present, and future. Adv. Mater. 31, 1804799 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Y. Zhang, W. Xiao, T. Hu et al., Metal-organic frameworks-inspired design of highly efficient nitrogen-doped carbon nanoflower electrocatalysts for Zn-air batteries. J. Mater. Sci. 58, 8157–8168 (2023)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Z.M. Che, Y.A. Yuan, J.X. Qin et al., Progress of nonmetallic electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reactions. Nanomaterials 13, 1945 (2023)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. D.H. Wang, C.C. Ao, X.K. Liu et al., Coordination-engineered Cu−Nx single-site catalyst for enhancing oxygen reduction reaction. ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 2, 6497–6504 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Y.L. Wu, J.L. Huang, Z.P. Lin et al., Fe-Nx doped carbon nanotube as a high efficient cathode catalyst for proton exchange membrane fuel cell. Chem. Eng. J. 423, 130241 (2021)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. T. Asset, P. Atanassov, Iron-nitrogen-carbon catalysts for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Joule 4, 33–44 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Z. Guan, X.J. Zhang, J.J. Fang et al., Fe, Ni, S, N-doped carbon materials as highly active Bi-functional catalysts for rechargeable Zinc-Air battery. Mater. Lett. 258, 126826 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. X.F. Li, Y.J. Liu, H.B. Chen et al., Rechargeable Zn-Air batteries with outstanding cycling stability enabled by ultrafine FeNi nanoparticles-encapsulated N-doped carbon nanosheets as a bifunctional electrocatalyst. Nano Lett. 21, 3098–3105 (2021)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. W.J. Fan, Z.L. Li, C.H. You et al., Binary Fe, Cu-doped bamboo-like carbon nanotubes as efficient catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction. Nano Energy 37, 187–194 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. L. Yang, D. Wang, Y. Lv et al., Nitrogen-doped graphitic carbons with encapsulated CoNi bimetallic nanoparticles as bifunctional electrocatalysts for rechargeable Zn-Air batteries. Carbon 144, 8–14 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. T.T. Gao, Z.Y. Jin, Y.J. Zhang et al., Coupling cobalt-iron bimetallic nitrides and N-doped multi-walled carbon nanotubes as high-performance bifunctional catalysts for oxygen evolution and reduction reaction. Electrochim. Acta 258, 51–60 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. S. Zhao, Z. Ma, Z. Wan et al., Noble-Metal-Free FeMn-N-C catalyst for efficient oxygen reduction reaction in both alkaline and acidic media. J. Colloid Interf. Sci. 642, 800–809 (2023)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Q.R. Pan, P.Y. Jiang, B.L. Lai et al., Co, N co-doped hierarchical porous carbon as efficient cathode electrocatalyst and its impact on microbial community of anode biofilm in microbial fuel cell. Chemosphere 291, 132701 (2022)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. L.J. Peng, J.P. Huang, Q.R. Pan et al., A simple method for the preparation of a nickel selenide and cobalt selenide mixed catalyst to enhance bifunctional oxygen activity for Zn-air batteries. RSC Adv. 11, 19406–19416 (2021)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. X.W. Peng, L. Zhang, Z.X. Chen et al., Hierarchically porous carbon plates derived from wood as bifunctional ORR/OER electrodes. Adv. Mater. 31, 1900341 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Q.J. Niu, J.X. Guo, B.L. Chen et al., Bimetal-organic frameworks/polymer core-shell nanofibers derived heteroatom-doped carbon materials as electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction. Carbon 114, 250–260 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. D.D. Lyu, Y.H. Du, S.L. Huang et al., Highly efficient multifunctional Co–N–C electrocatalysts with synergistic effects of Co–N moieties and Co metallic nanoparticles encapsulated in a N-doped carbon matrix for water-splitting and oxygen redox reactions. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 11, 39809–39819 (2019)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. D.H. Guo, R. Shibuya, C. Akiba et al., Active sites of nitrogen-doped carbon materials for oxygen reduction reaction clarified using model catalysts. Science 351, 361–365 (2016)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.52370096), Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. 2023A1515012759), and Innovative Training Program for University Students (No. S202311078049).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Clean Energy and Materials, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Jie-Ping Huang, Qiu-Ren Pan, Hui-Huan Jiang, Xiao-Feng Zhou & Nan Li

Authors
  1. Jie-Ping Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Qiu-Ren Pan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hui-Huan Jiang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Xiao-Feng Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Nan Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Jie-Ping Huang: investigation, writing—original draft. Qiu-Ren Pan: conceptualization and validation. Hui-Huan Jiang: investigation. Xiao-Feng Zhou: investigation. Nan Li: conceptualization, supervision, and writing—original draft.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nan Li.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 1729 KB)

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Huang, JP., Pan, QR., Jiang, HH. et al. Cobalt–nickel bimetallic hybridized nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon as efficient oxygen reduction electrocatalyst. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 35, 1165 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-024-12948-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-024-12948-z

Search

Navigation