Yao Nie

An extraordinarily stable catalyst: Pt NPs supported on two-dimensional Ti3C2X2 (X = OH, F) nanosheets for oxygen reduction reaction

High dispersion Pt nanoparticles supported on 2D Ti3C2X2 (X = OH, F) nanosheets are presented and electro-chemical measurements confirm that the Pt/Ti3C2X2 catalyst shows enhanced durability and improved ORR activity compared with the commercial Pt/C catalyst.

A Strategy to Promote the Electrocatalytic Activity of Spinels for Oxygen Reduction by Structure Reversal

The electrocatalytic performance of a spinel for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) can be significantly promoted by reversing its crystalline structure from the normal to the inverse. As the spinel structure reversed, the activation and cleavage of O-O bonds are accelerated owing to a dissimilarity effect of the distinct metal atoms co-occupying octahedral sites. The Co(II)Fe(III)Co(III)O4 spinel with the Fe and Co co-occupying inverse structure exhibits an excellent ORR activity, which even exceeds that of the state-of-the-art commercial Pt/C by 42 mV in alkaline medium.

Structural Evolution of Solid Pt Nanoparticles to a Hollow PtFe Alloy with a Pt‐Skin Surface via Space‐Confined Pyrolysis and the Nanoscale Kirkendall Effect

A space-confined interfacial conversion approach is developed to directly transform 3 nm solid Pt nanoparticles into a 5 nm hollow PtFe alloy featuring a Pt-skin surface. The approach presented for the structural evolution from solid Pt NPs to hollow PtFe alloy with controlled size, structure, and composition can be applied to other multimetallic electrocatalysts.

A catalyst superior to carbon-supported-platinum for promotion of the oxygen reduction reaction: reduced-polyoxometalate supported palladium

The high solubility of polyoxometalates (POMs) in basic electrolytes limits their practical applications. Fortunately, we found that this shortcoming can be overcome by electrochemically reducing the POMs. The reduced POMs (rPOM) are extremely stable in alkaline solutions and can participate in electrocatalytic cycles. Herein, we present a novel rPOM as a Pd-catalyst-substrate to achieve a high catalytic performance towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Interestingly, although rPOM alone has very low catalytic activity, the Pd/rPOM hybrid catalyst exhibits excellent electrocatalytic performance for ORR in alkaline media, even better than the commercial Pt/C catalyst. The much improved ORR activity of Pd/rPOM is based on electron delocalization between the Pd and the rPOM support, causing a down-shift in the d-band structure of the Pd NPs. Furthermore, the rPOM in the Pd–rPOM hybrid serves as an assistant catalyst, facilitating the decomposition of the harmful hydrogen peroxide intermediates. The method reported here will promote broader interest in the further development of other new catalysts for real-world applications.

Generation of three dimensional pore-controlled nitrogen-doped graphene hydrogels for high-performance supercapacitors by employing formamide as the modulator

Three-dimensional (3D) nitrogen-doped graphene hydrogels (NGHs) with a controlled pore structure were synthesized by inventively employing formamide as a modulator of their pore structure and surface properties. As expected, the optimized NGH showed a remarkable enhancement in its supercapacitor performance compared with traditional 3D graphene.

Self-assembly- and Preshaping-assisted Synthesis of Molybdenum Carbide Supported on Ultrathin Nitrogen-doped Graphitic Carbon Lamellas for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Herein, we report a self‐assembly and preshaping strategy for the controllable synthesis of highly dispersed Mo2C nanoparticles supported on porous graphitic carbon lamellas. This simple but effective method prevents the serious overlapping of carbon and excessive growth of Mo2C and endows Mo2C/C with a 2 D lamellar structure even after high‐temperature carburization. The constructed Mo2C/C‐lamellas exhibits higher activity in the hydrogen evolution reaction than traditional bulk Mo2C/C and shows long‐term stability. This self‐assembly and preshaping assisted carburization method represents a rational strategy for the preparation of robust carbon composite materials with hierarchically ordered structures, especially high melting points, and a high tendency to undergo aggregation.

A metal–organic framework derived 3D hierarchical Co/N-doped carbon nanotube/nanoparticle composite as an active electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction in alkaline electrolyte

Here, we have successfully prepared a 3D hierarchical Co/N-doped carbon nanotube/nanoparticle composite as a high-performance electrocatalyst toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), via pyrolysis of bimetallic Co, Zn-zeolitic imidazolate (Co, Zn-ZIF) crystals coated on the surface of silica templates. The resultant 3D Co/NCNTs-Zn/Co catalyst shows comparable ORR activity, better durability and stronger methanol tolerance compared to the state-of-the-art Pt/C catalyst in alkaline media.

Preparation of highly dispersed carbon supported AuPt nanoparticles via a capping agent-free route for efficient methanol oxidation

A facile synthesis of carbon-supported bimetallic AuPt catalysts via a capping agent-free route is reported. The synthesized AuPt nanoparticles are well dispersed with a narrow size distribution ranging from 2.50 to 4.50 nm. Compared with commercial PtRu/C and Pt/C nanoparticles, the present AuPt/C catalysts exhibit distinctly superior activity for the methanol oxidation reaction with notable CO tolerance. Moreover, the composition-dependent catalytic activity of AuPt/C catalysts is observed, which follows the order Au2Pt1/C > Au1Pt1/C > Au1Pt2/C.