Synthesis of cobalt vanadium nanomaterials for efficient electrocatalysis of oxygen evolution

Abstract

A low-cost and high-activity catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the key to the water splitting technology for hydrogen generation. Here we report the use of three solvents, DMF, ethanol and glycol, in the solvothermal synthesis of three nano-catalysts, Co₃(VO₄)₂-I, Co₃(VO₄)₂-II, and Co₃(VO₄)₂-III, respectively. Transmission electron microscope shows Co₃(VO₄)₂-I, II, and III exist as ultrafine nanosheets, ultrathin nanofilms, and ultrafine nanosheet-comprised microspheres, respectively. These Co₃(VO₄)₂ catalysts exhibit OER electrocatalysis, among which the Co₃(VO₄)₂-II shows the lowest onset overpotential of 310 mV and only requires a small overpotential of 330 mV to drive current density of 10 mA/cm². Due to their high surface free energy, the ultrathin nanofilms of Co₃(VO₄)₂-II exhibits a good immobilization effect with the high electrocatalytic activity for OER.

Key words： Co₃(VO₄)₂; oxygen evolution reaction; electrocatalyst; water splitting

Acknowledgments

The authors greatly appreciate the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21305090).

References

1 Herrera G, Jiménez-Mier J, Wilks R G, Moewes A, Yang W, Denlinger J. Fast electron dynamics in vanadates measured by resonant inelastic x-ray scattering. Materials Letters, 2013, 107: 144–146

2 Liang Y, Liu P, Li H B, Yang G W. Synthesis and characterization of copper vanadate nanostructures via electrochemistry assisted laser ablation in liquid and the optical multi-absorptions performance. CrystEngComm, 2012, 14(9): 3291–3296

3 Zhang S, Hou M, Hou L, Lu M. Synthesis and electrochemical performance of cable-like copper vanadates/polypyrrole nanobelts as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Chemical Physics Letters, 2016, 658: 203–206

4 Wang N, He Z, Cui M, Guo W, Zhang S, Yang M, Tang Y. Syntheses, structure and magnetic properties of two vanadate garnets Ca₅M₄V₆O₂₄ (M= Co, Ni). Journal of Solid State Chemistry, 2015, 228: 245–249

5 Liu Y, Dai H, Deng J, Zhang L, Au C T. Three-dimensional ordered macroporous bismuth vanadates: PMMA-templating fabrication and excellent visible light-driven photocatalytic performance for phenol degradation. Nanoscale, 2012, 4(7): 2317–2325

6 Abdi F F, Han L, Smets A H M, Zeman M, Dam B, Van De Krol R. Efficient solar water splitting by enhanced charge separation in a bismuth vanadate-silicon tandem photoelectrode. Nature Communications, 2013, 4: 2195

7 Shi X, Choi I Y, Zhang K, Kwon J, Kim D Y, Lee J K, Oh S H, Kim J K, Park J H. Efficient photoelectrochemical hydrogen production from bismuth vanadate-decorated tungsten trioxide helix nanostructures. Nature Communications, 2014, 5: 4775

8 Vu T A, Dao C D, Hoang T T T, Dang P T, Tran H T K, Nguyen K T, Le G H, Nguyen T V, Lee G D. Synthesis of novel silver vanadates with high photocatalytic and antibacterial activities. Materials Letters, 2014, 123: 176–180

9 Yin K, Liu S, Cai Q, Gao A, Lu S, Shao M. The enhanced ammonia gas-sensing activity of gamma ray irradiated indium vanadate nanoribbons. Journal of Materials Science Materials in Electronics, 2014, 25(1): 419–422

10 Baddour-Hadjean R, Boudaoud A, Bach S, Emery N, Pereira-Ramos J P. A comparative insight of potassium vanadates as positive electrode materials for Li batteries: Influence of the long-range and local structure. Inorganic Chemistry, 2014, 53(3): 1764–1772

11 Nithya V D, Pandi K, Lee Y S, Selvan R K. Synthesis, characterization and electrochemical performances of nanocrystalline FeVO₄ as negative and LiCoPO₄ as positive electrode for asymmetric supercapacitor. Electrochimica Acta, 2015, 167: 97–104

12 Zhou B, Zhao X, Liu H, Qu J, Huang C P. Visible-light sensitive cobalt-doped BiVO₄ (Co-BiVO₄) photocatalytic composites for the degradation of methylene blue dye in dilute aqueous solutions. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2010, 99(1-2): 214–221

13 Xiao M, Miao Y, Li W, Yang Y, Liang X. Onsite deposition of self-repairing biomimetic nanostructured Ni catalysts with improved electrocatalysis toward glycerol oxidation for H₂ production. Electrochimica Acta, 2015, 178: 209–216

14 Xiao M, Miao Y, Tian Y, Yan Y. Synthesizing nanoparticles of Co-P-Se compounds as electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Electrochimica Acta, 2015, 165: 206–210

15 Xiao M, Zhang Z, Tian Y, Miao Y, Wang J. Co-Fe-Se ultrathin nanosheet-fabricated microspheres for efficient electrocatalysis of hydrogen evolution. Journal of Applied Electrochemistry, 2017, 47(3): 361–367

16 Tian Y, Zhang Z, Miao Y. Co-Te-Se nano-compounds as electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 2016, 163(8): H625–H629

17 Xiao M, Liang X, Li W, Yang Y, Miao Y. Synthesis of ultrafine Pt/Pd bimetallic nanoparticles and their decoration on MWCNTs for hydrogen evolution. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 2015, 162(6): H415–H418

18 Liang Y, Liu Q, Luo Y, Sun X, He Y, Asiri A M. Zn_0.76Co_0.24S/CoS₂ nanowires array for efficient electrochemical splitting of water. Electrochimica Acta, 2016, 190: 360–364

19 Liu T, Liu Q, Asiri A M, Luo Y, Sun X. An amorphous CoSe film behaves as an active and stable full water-splitting electrocatalyst under strongly alkaline conditions. Chemical Communications, 2015, 51(93): 16683–16686

20 Liu T, Liang Y, Liu Q, Sun X, He Y, Asiri A M. Electrodeposition of cobalt-sulfide nanosheets film as an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction. Electrochemistry Communications, 2015, 60: 92–96

21 Feng J X, Xu H, Dong Y T, Ye S H, Tong Y X, Li G R. FeOOH/Co/FeOOH hybrid nanotube arrays as high-performance electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2016, 55(11): 3694–3698

22 Feng J X, Ye S H, Xu H, Tong Y X, Li G R. Design and synthesis of FeOOH/CeO₂ heterolayered nanotube electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction. Advanced Materials, 2016, 28(23): 4698–4703

23 Le C. A review of non-fossil energy based hydrogen production technologies. Energy Research and Information, 2011, 3: 130–137

24 Zhou M, Ouyang R, Li Y, Miao Y. 3D microspheres organized from Ni-Mo-S nanoparticles in situ synthesized on porous Ti for hydrogen evolution electrocatalysis. Electrochimica Acta, 2017, 246: 9–16

25 Yin Y, Tan X, Hou F, Zhao L. Efficient synthesis of titania nanotubes and enhanced photoresponse of Pt decorated TiO₂ for water splitting. Frontiers of Chemical Engineering in China, 2009, 3(3): 298–304

26 Gomathisankar P, Noda T, Katsumata H, Suzuki T, Kaneco S. Enhanced hydrogen production from aqueous methanol solution using TiO₂/Cu as photocatalysts. Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering, 2014, 8(2): 197–202

27 Lu X F, Gu L F, Wang J W, Wu J X, Liao P Q, Li G R. Bimetal-organic framework derived CoFe₂O₄/C porous hybrid nanorod arrays as high-performance electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction. Advanced Materials, 2017, 29(3): 1604437

28 Fei G, Zhao J. Applications and key materials of the vanadium redox flow battery. Energy Research and Information, 2008, 24(1): 49–55

29 Xing M, Kong L B, Liu M C, Liu L Y, Kang L, Luo Y C. Cobalt vanadate as highly active, stable, noble metal-free oxygen evolution electrocatalyst. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, Materials for Energy and Sustainability, 2014, 2(43): 18435–18443

30 Cardenas-Morcoso D, Peiro-Franch A, Herraiz-Cardona I, Gimenez S. Chromium doped copper vanadate photoanodes for water splitting. Catalysis Today, 2017, 290: 65–72

31 Kim T W, Choi K S. Nanoporous BiVO₄ photoanodes with dual-layer oxygen evolution catalysts for solar water splitting. Science, 2014, 343(6174): 990–994

32 Tian Y, Zhou M, Meng X, Miao Y, Zhang D. Needle-like CoMoO with multi-modal porosity for pseudocapacitors. Materials Chemistry and Physics, 2017, 198: 258–265

33 Yan Y, Tian Y, Hao M, Miao Y. Synthesis and characterization of cross-like Ni-Co-P microcomposites. Materials & Design, 2016, 111: 230–238

34 Mazloom F, Masjedi-Arani M, Salavati-Niasari M. Controllable synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic studies on cadmium vanadate nanostructures. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 2016, 220: 566–572

35 Zhou D, Zhu Z, Liu B. Solvothermal synthesis and characterization of a novel reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/BiVO₄/SiO₂ nanocomposites. Materials Letters, 2016, 185: 32–35

36 Han G H, Yang S Z, Huang Y F, Yang J, Chai W C, Zhang R, Chen D L. Hydrothermal synthesis and electrochemical sensing properties of copper vanadate nanocrystals with controlled morphologies. Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China, 2017, 27(5): 1105–1116

37 Pei L Z, Xie Y K, Pei Y Q, Jiang Y X, Yu H Y, Cai Z Y. Hydrothermal synthesis of Mn vanadate nanosheets and visible-light photocatalytic performance for the degradation of methyl blue. Materials Research Bulletin, 2013, 48(7): 2557–2565

38 Kumar J V, Karthik R, Chen S M, Marikkani S, Elangovan A, Muthuraj V. Green synthesis of a novel flower-like cerium vanadate microstructure for electrochemical detection of tryptophan in food and biological samples. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2017, 496: 78–86

39 Yu Y, Huang S Y, Li Y, Steinmann S N, Yang W, Cao L. Layer-dependent electrocatalysis of MoS₂ for hydrogen evolution. Nano Letters, 2013, 14(2): 553–558

40 Bao J, Zhu X, Liu Y, Li W, Yu R. N,N-dimethylformamide-induced synthesis and photoluminescence of CePO₄ and Ce_0.95PO₄:Tb_0.05 with sphere-like nanostructures. Materials Letters, 2014, 124: 97–100

41 Zahir M H, Mohamed S A, Rahman M M, Rehman A U. Hydrothermal synthesis of triangular CeCO₃OH particles and photoluminescence properties. Chinese Chemical Letters, 2017, 28(3): 663–669

42 Xing M, Kong L B, Liu M C, Liu L Y, Kang L, Luo Y C. Cobalt vanadate as highly active, stable, noble metal-free oxygen evolution electrocatalyst. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, Materials for Energy and Sustainability, 2014, 2(43): 18435–18443

43 Esch T R, Bredow T. Bulk and surface properties of magnesium peroxide MgO₂. Applied Surface Science, 2016, 389: 1202–1207

44 Jiang J, Zhang A, Li L, Ai L. Nickel-cobalt layered double hydroxide nanosheets as high-performance electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction. Journal of Power Sources, 2015, 278: 445–451

45 Cheng N, Xue Y, Liu Q, Tian J, Zhang L, Asiri A M, Sun X. Cu/(Cu(OH)₂-CuO) core/shell nanorods array: In-situ growth and application as an efficient 3D oxygen evolution anode. Electrochimica Acta, 2015, 163: 102–106

46 Miao Y, Ouyang L, Zhou S, Xu L, Yang Z, Xiao M, Ouyang R. Electrocatalysis and electroanalysis of nickel, its oxides, hydroxides and oxyhydroxides toward small molecules. Biosensors & Bioelectronics, 2014, 53(Supplement C): 428–439

47 Yang Z, Miao Y, Wang T, Liang X, Xiao M, Li W, Yang Y. The self-adsorption of Ni ultrathin layer on glassy carbon surface and their electrocatalysis toward glucose. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 2014, 161(6): H375–H378