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In-situ growth of Ni nanoparticle-encapsulated N-doped carbon nanotubes on carbon nanorods for efficient hydrogen evolution electrocatalysis

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Abstract

Searching for inexpensive, efficient and durable electrocatalysts with earth-abundant elements toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is of vital importance for the future sustainable hydrogen economy, yet still remains a formidable challenge. Herein, a facile template-engaged strategy is demonstrated for the direct in-situ growth of Ni nanoparticles and N-doped carbon nanotubes on carbon nanorod substrates, forming a hierarchically branched architecture (abbreviated as Ni@N-C NT/NRs hereafter). The elaborate construction of such unique hierarchical structure with tightly encapsulated Ni nanoparticles and open configuration endows the as-fabricated Ni@N-C NT/NRs with abundant well-dispersed active sites, enlarged surface area, reduced resistances of charge transfer and mass diffusion, and reinforced mechanical robustness. As a consequence, the optimal Ni@N-C NT/NR catalyst demonstrates superior electrocatalytic activity with relatively low overpotential of 134 mV to deliver a current density of 10 mA·cm−2 and excellent stability for HER in 0.1 M KOH, holding a great promise for practical scalable H2 production. More importantly, this work offers a reliable methodology for feasible fabrication of robust high-performance carbon-based hierarchical architectures for a variety of electrochemical applications.

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Acknowledgements

The work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21972068, 21875112, 21576139, 51871060, and 51672049), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20171473). The authors also thank the supports from National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Biomedical Functional Materials and a project sponsored by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Xiaoxiao Yan & Renbing Wu

  2. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Power Batteries, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Centre of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Xiaoxiao Yan, Minyi Gu, Yao Wang, Lin Xu & Yawen Tang

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  1. Xiaoxiao Yan
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  2. Minyi Gu
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Correspondence to Lin Xu or Renbing Wu.

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12274_2020_2727_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

In-situ growth of Ni nanoparticle-encapsulated N-doped carbon nanotubes on carbon nanorods for efficient hydrogen evolution electrocatalysis

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Yan, X., Gu, M., Wang, Y. et al. In-situ growth of Ni nanoparticle-encapsulated N-doped carbon nanotubes on carbon nanorods for efficient hydrogen evolution electrocatalysis. Nano Res. 13, 975–982 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2727-7

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