An Efficient Bi-functional Electrocatalyst Prepared from Pyrolyzed Egg Yolk

Related Articles

Abstract

Cost-efficient bi-functional electrocatalyst which can catalyze the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is key to the widespread commercialization of regenerative fuel cells and metal-air batteries. In this study, a heteroatoms doped carbon (HDC) supported Co₂P nanoparticles (Co₂P-HDC) bi-functional electrocatalyst was prepared via a facile one step pyrolysis in molten salt with hen's egg yolk and cobalt chloride as precursor. The structural and functional properties of the as-obtained Co₂P-HDC are studied via SEM, TEM, XRD and XPS. A rotating disk electrode (RDE) was used to characterize the electrocatalytic performance of Co₂P-HDC towards ORR and OER in an alkaline media. In fact, the Co₂P-HDC catalyst demonstrates similar ORR activity and higher OER activity and stability as compared with a commonly used commercial Pt/C catalyst, and is expected to find application in metal-air batteries, regenerative fuel cells, etc. Furthermore, this would also be a new way to make good use of the yolk.

	Service

	Email this article
	Add to my bookshelf
	Add to citation manager
	Email Alert
	RSS
	Articles by authors
	Shao Zechao
	Wang Yuxin

Keywords： egg yolk； bi-functional electrocatalyst； oxygen reduction reaction； oxygen evolution reaction

Received 2015-05-12;

About author:

Cite this article:

Shao Zechao, Wang Yuxin.An Efficient Bi-functional Electrocatalyst Prepared from Pyrolyzed Egg Yolk[J] Chemcial Industry and Engineering, 2017,V34(5): 83-88

[1] Armand M, Tarascon J M. Building better batteries[J]. Nature, 2008, 451(7 179): 652-657
[2] Neburchilov V, Wang H, Martin J J, et al. A review on air cathodes for zinc-air fuel cells[J]. Journal of Power Sources, 2010, 195(5): 1 271-1 291
[3] Carmo M, Fritz D L, Mergel J, et al. A comprehensive review on PEM water electrolysis[J]. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2013, 38(12): 4 901-4 934
[4] Gasteiger H A, Kocha S S, Sompalli B, et al. Activity benchmarks and requirements for Pt, Pt-alloy, and non-Pt oxygen reduction catalysts for PEMFCs[J]. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2005, 56(1): 9-35
[5] Suntivich J, Gasteiger H A, Yabuuchi N, et al. Design principles for oxygen-reduction activity on perovskite oxide catalysts for fuel cells and metal-air batteries[J]. Nature Chemistry, 2011, 3(7): 546-550
[6] Cheng F, Chen J. Metal-Air batteries: From oxygen reduction electrochemistry to cathode catalysts[J]. Chemical Society Reviews, 2012, 41(6): 2 172-2 192
[7] Chen Z, Higgins D, Yu A, et al. A review on non-precious metal electrocatalysts for PEM fuel cells[J]. Energy & Environmental Science, 2011, 4(9): 3 167-3 192
[8] Gong K, Du F, Xia Z, et al. Nitrogen-Doped carbon nanotube arrays with high electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction[J]. Science, 2009, 323(5 915): 760-764
[9] Yang Z, Yao Z, Li G, et al. Sulfur-Doped graphene as an efficient metal-free cathode catalyst for oxygen reduction[J]. ACS Nano, 2011, 6(1): 205-211
[10] Sheng Z, Gao H, Bao W, et al. Synthesis of boron doped graphene for oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells[J]. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 2012, 22(2): 390-395
[11] Liu Z, Peng F, Wang H, et al. Phosphorus-Doped graphite layers with high electrocatalytic activity for the O₂ reduction in an alkaline medium[J]. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2011, 50(14): 3 257-3 261
[12] Choi C H, Park S H, Woo S I. Binary and ternary doping of nitrogen, boron, and phosphorus into carbon for enhancing electrochemical oxygen reduction activity[J]. ACS Nano, 2012, 6(8): 7 084-7 091
[13] Sakaushi K, Fellinger T P, Antonietti M. Bifunctional metal-free catalysis of mesoporous noble carbons for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions[J]. Chem Sus Chem, 2015, 8(7): 1 156-1 160
[14] Zhang J, Zhao Z, Xia Z, et al. A metal-free bifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions[J]. Nature Nanotechnology, 2015, 10: 444-452
[15] Chaudhari K N, Song M Y, Yu J S. Transforming hair into heteroatom-doped carbon with high surface area[J]. Small, 2014, 10(13): 2 625-2 636
[16] Zhang Z, Li H, Yang Y, et al. Cow dung-derived nitrogen-doped carbon as a cost effective, high activity, oxygen reduction electrocatalyst[J]. RSC Advances, 2015, 5(34): 27 112-27 119
[17] Bard A J, Faulkner L R. Electrochemical methods: fundamentals and applications [M]. Second edition, New York: Wiley, 2001
[18] Skála R, Drábek M. The crystal structure of Co₂P from X-ray powder diffraction data and its mineralogical applications[J]. Bulletin of Geosciences, 2001, 76(4): 209-216
[19] Yu D, Zhang Q, Dai L. Highly efficient metal-free growth of nitrogen-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes on plasma-etched substrates for oxygen reduction[J]. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2010, 132(43): 15 127-15 129
[20] Rao C V, Cabrera C R, Ishikawa Y. In search of the active site in nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube electrodes for the oxygen reduction reaction[J]. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2010, 1(18): 2 622-2 627
[21] Ding W, Wei Z, Chen S, et al. Space-Confinement-induced synthesis of pyridinic-and pyrrolic-nitrogen-doped graphene for the catalysis of oxygen reduction[J]. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2013, 52(45): 11 755-11 759
[22] Li M, Zhang L, Xu Q, et al. N-Doped graphene as catalysts for oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions: Theoretical considerations[J]. Journal of Catalysis, 2014, 314: 66-72