Atomic cobalt on nitrogen-doped graphene for hydrogen generation

Huilong Fei; Juncai Dong; M. Josefina Arellano-Jiménez; Gonglan Ye; Nam Dong Kim; Errol L.G. Samuel; Zhiwei Peng; Zhuan Zhu; Fan Qin; Jiming Bao; Miguel Jose Yacaman; Pulickel M. Ajayan; Dongliang Chen; James M. Tour

doi:10.1038/ncomms9668

Atomic cobalt on nitrogen-doped graphene for hydrogen generation

Huilong Fei, Juncai Dong, M. Josefina Arellano-Jiménez, Gonglan Ye, Nam Dong Kim, Errol L.G. Samuel, Zhiwei Peng, Zhuan Zhu, Fan Qin, Jiming Bao, Miguel Jose Yacaman, Pulickel M. Ajayan, Dongliang Chen, James M. Tour

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1179 Scopus citations

Abstract

Reduction of water to hydrogen through electrocatalysis holds great promise for clean energy, but its large-scale application relies on the development of inexpensive and efficient catalysts to replace precious platinum catalysts. Here we report an electrocatalyst for hydrogen generation based on very small amounts of cobalt dispersed as individual atoms on nitrogen-doped graphene. This catalyst is robust and highly active in aqueous media with very low overpotentials (30 V). A variety of analytical techniques and electrochemical measurements suggest that the catalytically active sites are associated with the metal centres coordinated to nitrogen. This unusual atomic constitution of supported metals is suggestive of a new approach to preparing extremely efficient single-atom catalysts.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	8668
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9668
State	Published - Oct 21 2015
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Chemistry(all)
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
Physics and Astronomy(all)

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10.1038/ncomms9668

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abstract = "Reduction of water to hydrogen through electrocatalysis holds great promise for clean energy, but its large-scale application relies on the development of inexpensive and efficient catalysts to replace precious platinum catalysts. Here we report an electrocatalyst for hydrogen generation based on very small amounts of cobalt dispersed as individual atoms on nitrogen-doped graphene. This catalyst is robust and highly active in aqueous media with very low overpotentials (30 V). A variety of analytical techniques and electrochemical measurements suggest that the catalytically active sites are associated with the metal centres coordinated to nitrogen. This unusual atomic constitution of supported metals is suggestive of a new approach to preparing extremely efficient single-atom catalysts.",

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note = "Funding Information: We thank Ye Wu from Peking University for insightful discussions on the EXAFS analysis. Funding was provided by the AFOSR MURI program (FA9550-12-1-0035) and the AFOSR (FA9550-14-1-0111). This work was partially supported by a grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (G12MD007591) from the National Institutes of Health, the Welch Foundation Grant (AX-1615). J.D. and D.C. acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11475212). J.M.B. acknowledges support from the Robert A. Welch Foundation (E-1728). We also thank China Scholarship Council for partial financial support (to H.F.). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.",

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AU - Fei, Huilong

AU - Dong, Juncai

AU - Arellano-Jiménez, M. Josefina

AU - Ye, Gonglan

AU - Dong Kim, Nam

AU - Samuel, Errol L.G.

AU - Peng, Zhiwei

AU - Zhu, Zhuan

AU - Qin, Fan

AU - Bao, Jiming

AU - Yacaman, Miguel Jose

AU - Ajayan, Pulickel M.

AU - Chen, Dongliang

AU - Tour, James M.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank Ye Wu from Peking University for insightful discussions on the EXAFS analysis. Funding was provided by the AFOSR MURI program (FA9550-12-1-0035) and the AFOSR (FA9550-14-1-0111). This work was partially supported by a grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (G12MD007591) from the National Institutes of Health, the Welch Foundation Grant (AX-1615). J.D. and D.C. acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11475212). J.M.B. acknowledges support from the Robert A. Welch Foundation (E-1728). We also thank China Scholarship Council for partial financial support (to H.F.). Publisher Copyright: © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

PY - 2015/10/21

Y1 - 2015/10/21

N2 - Reduction of water to hydrogen through electrocatalysis holds great promise for clean energy, but its large-scale application relies on the development of inexpensive and efficient catalysts to replace precious platinum catalysts. Here we report an electrocatalyst for hydrogen generation based on very small amounts of cobalt dispersed as individual atoms on nitrogen-doped graphene. This catalyst is robust and highly active in aqueous media with very low overpotentials (30 V). A variety of analytical techniques and electrochemical measurements suggest that the catalytically active sites are associated with the metal centres coordinated to nitrogen. This unusual atomic constitution of supported metals is suggestive of a new approach to preparing extremely efficient single-atom catalysts.

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Atomic cobalt on nitrogen-doped graphene for hydrogen generation

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