A Single Source, Scalable Route for Direct Isolation of Earth-Abundant Nanometal Carbide Water-Splitting Electrocatalysts

Edward T Nguyen; Isabella A Bertini; Amanda J Ritz; Robert A Lazenby; Keyou Mao; James R McBride; Alexzandra V Mattia; Jason E Kuszynski; Samuel F Wenzel; Sarah D Bennett; Geoffrey F Strouse

doi:10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c01713

A Single Source, Scalable Route for Direct Isolation of Earth-Abundant Nanometal Carbide Water-Splitting Electrocatalysts

Inorg Chem. 2022 Sep 5;61(35):13836-13845. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c01713. Epub 2022 Aug 25.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, United States.
² Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Tallahassee, Florida 32310, United States.
³ National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee, Florida 32310, United States.
⁴ Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, Nashville, Tennessee 37235, United States.

PMID: 36007248
DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c01713

Abstract

Single-phase M_xCs (M = Fe, Co, and Ni) were prepared by solvothermal conversion of Prussian blue single source precursors. The single source precursor is prepared in water, and the conversion process is carried out in alkylamines at reaction temperatures above 200 °C. The reaction is scalable using a commercial source of Fe-PB. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron microscopy, and powder X-ray diffraction confirm that carbides have thin oxide termination but lack graphitic surfaces. Electrocatalytic activity reveals that Fe₃C and Co₂C are oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalysts, while Ni₃C is a bifunctional [OER and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)] electrocatalyst.