Abstract
The ability to create nanomaterials with hollow micro- or nanostructures renders their applications in fields such as catalysis, controlled delivery and lightweight composites. Herein, we report a simple three-step route to Cu2O/Cu nanotubes populated by interconnected, phosphorus-doped CoO nanoparticles (denoted P–CoO–Cu2O/Cu-NTs). They possess three-dimensional (3D) accessible surface, thereby greatly favoring the exposure of active sites and electrolyte transport for efficient electrocatalysis. Notably, the integrated electrochemical tests and theoretical calculation reveal that the P-doping imparts the optimization of the electronic structures of CoO, enhancing its conductivity, facilitating the in-situ formation of active CoOOH species during oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and suitably regulating free energy for adsorption of the OER intermediates. Consequently, the P–CoO–Cu2O/Cu-NTs exhibit outstanding performance for OER and urea oxidation reaction (UOR) with the overpotential of 261 mV and potential of 1.43 V vs RHE, respectively, at 10 mA cm−2, outperforming most of non-precious metal electrocatalysts and RuO2. As such, the three-step approach involving the use of Cu nanowires as template to yield Cu2O/Cu nanotubular yet porous scaffold may stand out as a robust strategy for judicious crafting of interconnected heteroatom-doped metal oxides for high-performance electrocatalysis.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 104194 |
Journal | Nano Energy |
Volume | 66 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The financial support of the National Natural Science Founda-tion (NNSF) of China (21574084), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2017A040405066), and Shenzhen Government's Plan of Science and Technology (JCYJ20170817095041212 and JCYJ20170818091657056) are gratefully acknowledged.
Funding Information:
The financial support of the National Natural Science Founda-tion ( NNSF ) of China ( 21574084 ), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province ( 2017A040405066 ), and Shenzhen Government’s Plan of Science and Technology ( JCYJ20170817095041212 and JCYJ20170818091657056 ) are gratefully acknowledged. Appendix A
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019
Keywords
- Nanotubes
- Oxygen evolution reaction
- Phosphorus doping
- Three-dimensional accessible surface
- Urea oxidation reaction