In Situ Fabrication of Electrospun Carbon Nanofibers–Binary Metal Sulfides as Freestanding Electrode for Electrocatalytic Water Splitting

Zhenfeng Zhu; Jiace Hao; Han Zhu; Shuhui Sun; Fang Duan; Shuanglong Lu; Mingliang Du

doi:10.1007/s42765-020-00063-7

Advanced Fiber Materials ›› 2021, Vol. 3 ›› Issue (2) : 117 -127. DOI: 10.1007/s42765-020-00063-7

Research Article

In Situ Fabrication of Electrospun Carbon Nanofibers–Binary Metal Sulfides as Freestanding Electrode for Electrocatalytic Water Splitting

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¹Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Biological Colloids, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University, 214122, Wuxi, People’s Republic of China

^c zhysw@jiangnan.edu.cn

^g du@jiangnan.edu.cn

Zhenfeng Zhu

obtained her bachelor’s degree in 2020 from Jiangnan University, China. His main research focuses on preparation multicomponent alloy catalytic materials for water splitting.

Jiace Hao

is now a senior at Jiangnan University. His research mainly focuses on carbon nanofiber based electrocatalysts for water splitting.

Han Zhu

received his PhD degree from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University in 2016 under the direction of Prof. Mingliang Du. In 2017, he joined the School of Chemical and Materials Engineering in Jiangnan University as an associate professor. His current research interests mainly focus on design and synthesis of electrospun nanofiber based novel nanostructured materials applied in electrocatalysis, heterogeneous catalysis, electrochemical sensors and environmental catalysis

Shuhui Sun

obtained her bachelor’s degree in 2020 from Jiangnan University, China. Her research mainly focuses on electrospinning and fabrication of hierarchical structure.

Fang Duan

received her Ph.D. degree at Jiangnan University in 2011. Now, she is an associate professor in the School of Chemical and Materials Engineering at Jiangnan University. Her research interests mainly focus on design and synthesis of highly efficient photocatalytic materials that can be used for destruction of environmental contaminants and energy generation.

Shuanglong Lu

received his BS and PhD degrees from Soochow University in 2013 and 2018 under the direction of Prof. Hongwei Gu. Meanwhile, he got the financial support from Chinese government to finish his joint PhD research in University of Colorado at Boulder, USA in Prof. Wei Zhang’s group. He then joined Jiangnan University, China, as an associate professor in 2018. His current research interests mainly focus on engineering nanostructured materials applied in both organic catalysis and electrocatalysis.

Mingliang Du

received his PhD degree in 2007 at South China University of Technology and he also worked there as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. In 2009, he joined the Zhejiang Sci-Tech University in Hangzhou, as Associate Professor, and was promoted to Professor in 2014. In 2017, he joined the Department of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Jiangnan University in Wuxi. His current research focuses on synthesis of nanomaterials and carbon materials and their applications in clean energy, electrochemical biosensing, etc.; electrospinning and its applications; controlled synthesis, characterization and application of metallic and semiconducting nanomaterials.

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Abstract

In search of effective and stable bifunctional electrocatalyst for electrocatalytic water splitting is still a major challenge for the highly efficient H₂ production. Here, we reported a facile strategy to design high-indexed Cu₃Pd₁₃S₇ nanoparticles (NPs) in situ synthesized on the three-dimensional (3D) carbon nanofibers (CNFs) by combining electrospinning and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technology. The high-index facets with abundant active sites, the 3D architecture CNFs with high specific surface area and synergistic effect of Cu–Pd–S bonds with strong electron couplings together promote the electrocatalytic performance. The Cu₃Pd₁₃S₇/CNFs shows excellent electrocatalytic activity with low overpotentials of 52 mV (10 mA cm⁻²) for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and 240 mV (10 mA cm⁻²) for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The excellent protection of Cu₃Pd₁₃S₇ by CNFs from aggregation and electrolyte corrosion lead to the high stability of Cu₃Pd₁₃S₇/CNFs under acidic and alkaline conditions.

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Zhenfeng Zhu, Jiace Hao, Han Zhu, Shuhui Sun, Fang Duan, Shuanglong Lu, Mingliang Du. In Situ Fabrication of Electrospun Carbon Nanofibers–Binary Metal Sulfides as Freestanding Electrode for Electrocatalytic Water Splitting. Advanced Fiber Materials, 2021, 3(2): 117-127 DOI:10.1007/s42765-020-00063-7