Hydrogen-bond induced and hetero coupling dual effects in N-doped carbon coated CrN/Ni nanosheets for efficient alkaline freshwater/seawater hydrogen evolution

Zhengjian Sun; Bingxian Chu; Shenghui Wang; Lihui Dong; Qi Pang; Minguang Fan; Xianrui Zhang; Huibing He; Bin Li; Zhengjun Chen

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.05.006

Hydrogen-bond induced and hetero coupling dual effects in N-doped carbon coated CrN/Ni nanosheets for efficient alkaline freshwater/seawater hydrogen evolution

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Sep 15:646:361-369. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.05.006. Epub 2023 May 7.

Authors

Zhengjian Sun¹, Bingxian Chu¹, Shenghui Wang¹, Lihui Dong², Qi Pang¹, Minguang Fan², Xianrui Zhang³, Huibing He¹, Bin Li⁴, Zhengjun Chen⁵

Affiliations

¹ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Materials, Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry Technology and Resource Development, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, PR China.
² Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Materials, Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry Technology and Resource Development, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, PR China; Guangxi Key Laboratory of Petrochemical Resource Processing and Process Intensification Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, PR China.
³ School of Food Science and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Wuzhou University, Wuzhou 543002, PR China.
⁴ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Materials, Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry Technology and Resource Development, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, PR China; Guangxi Key Laboratory of Petrochemical Resource Processing and Process Intensification Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, PR China. Electronic address: binli@gxu.edu.cn.
⁵ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Materials, Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry Technology and Resource Development, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, PR China. Electronic address: zjchen@gxu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37201464
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.05.006

Abstract

Developing efficient and robust non-precious-metal-based hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts is highly desirable but remains quite challenging for alkaline freshwater/seawater electrolysis. In the present study, we report a theory-guided design and synthesis of a nickel foam (NF) supported N-doped carbon-coated (NC) nickel (Ni)/chromium nitride (CrN) nanosheets (NC@CrN/Ni) as a highly active and durable electrocatalyst. Our theoretical calculation firstly reveals that CrN/Ni heterostructure can greatly promote the H₂O dissociation via hydrogen-bond induced effect, and the N site can be optimized by hetero coupling to achieve a facile hydrogen associative desorption, thereby significantly boosting alkaline HER. Guided by theoretical calculation, we prepared the nickel-based metal-organic framework as a precursor, and introduced the Cr by the subsequent hydrothermal treatment, finally obtained the target catalyst by ammonia pyrolysis. Such a simple process ensures the exposure of abundant accessible active sites. Consequently, the as-prepared NC@CrN/Ni catalyst exhibits outstanding performance in both alkaline freshwater and seawater, with the respective overpotential of only 24 and 28 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^-2, respectively. More impressively, the catalyst also possesses superior durability in the constant-current test of 50 h at the different current densities of 10, 100, and 1000 mA cm^-2.

Keywords: Alkaline freshwater/seawater electrolysis; Hetero coupling; Heterostructure catalyst; Hydrogen evolution reaction; Hydrogen-bond induced effect.