As core materials for electrochemical energy conversion and storage, noble metal catalyst shows high catalytic activity, such as platinum, etc. However, high costs limit its industrialization. Recently, Professor CUI Guanglei, lead of Biomimetics Energy and System Group at Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, makes great efforts in investigation of non-noble metal catalyst with nanostructure, such as titanium nitride, molybdenum nitride, graphene oxide, etc.

Ttitanium nitride (TiN) has a similar electronic structure with noble metal .The composite films of titanium nitride in conjunction with PEDOT: PSS were prepared, which was demonstrated to deliver an effectively combined network of both high electrical conductivity and superior electrocatalytic activity. The composite films have been explored as an alternative for the counter electrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells. It was manifested that these nanostructured TiN-PEDOT:PSS composite films displayed excellent performance comparable to Pt-FTO counter electrode due to the combined network endowing more favorable and efficient interfacial active sites. Among them, the energy conversion efficiency of the cell with TiN(P)-PEDOT:PSS as counter electrode reached 7.06%, which was superior to 6.57% of the cell with Pt-FTO counter electrode under the same experimental conditions (ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2012, 4, 1087).

To further improve the performance, the hierarchical micro/nano-structured TiN spheres (micro/nano-TiNs) were fabricated with cyanamide as the structural confinement agent. Compared with particulate TiN and TiN flat electrodes, the as-prepared hierarchical micro/nano-TiNs electrode based dye-sensitized solar cells delivered more advantageous photovoltaic performances in terms of their open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current density, fill factor and conversion efficiency. After an initial optimization of the particle sizes, the highest overall conversion efficiency yields 7.83% (~800 nm), which is 30% higher than that of platinum(J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 6067).

Similarly, molybdenum nitride (MoN) is also expected to become an ideal non-precious metal catalyst. MoN nanoparticles ware incorporated with graphene materials by in situ method. When used for lithium air battery cathode catalyst in organic systems, it showed a higher discharge platform (3.1 V) and discharge capacity (1050 mAh g-1), in comparison to traditional Pt catalyst. (Chem. Commun., 2011,47, 11291).

In addition to the above-mentioned non-noble metal catalytic material, the team also studied the electrocatalytic activity of graphene oxide towards vanadium species of VO2+/VO2+ and V2+/V3+ in avanadium redox flow battery (Carbon, 2011, 49, 693). Moreover, graphene oxide nanosheets/multi-walled carbon nanotubes hybrid with excellent electrocatalytic redox reversibility towards VO2+/VO2+ redox couples had also been prepared by an electrostatic spray technique after efficient ultrasonic treatment. An effective mixed conducting network was formed, delivering much better electrocatalytic redox reversibility towards the positive VO2+/VO2+ couple (Energy Environ. Sci., 2011, 4, 4710).

Web Link:

1、ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2012, 4, 1087: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/am201720p

2、J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 6067: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2012/JM/c2jm30420a

3、Chem. Commun., 2011,47, 11291-11293: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2011/CC/c1cc14427h

4、Carbon, 2011, 49, 693: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0008622310007487

5、Energy Environ. Sci., 2011, 4, 4710: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2011/EE/c1ee01776d

Contact:

Professor CUI Guanglei
Email: cuigl@qibebt.ac.cn
Tel: +86-(0)532-80662746