title: Metallic Co4N Porous Nanowire Arrays Activated by Surface Oxidation as Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction.
abstract: Designing highly efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays a key role in the development of various renewable energy storage and conversion devices. In this work, we developed metallic Co4N porous nanowire arrays directly grown on flexible substrates as highly active OER electrocatalysts for the first time. Benefiting from the collaborative advantages of metallic character, 1D porous nanowire arrays, and unique 3D electrode configuration, surface oxidation activated Co4N porous nanowire arrays/carbon cloth achieved an extremely small overpotential of 257 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm(-2), and a low Tafel slope of 44 mV dec(-1) in an alkaline medium, which is the best OER performance among reported Co-based electrocatalysts to date. Moreover, in-depth mechanistic investigations demonstrate the active phases are the metallic Co4N core inside with a thin cobalt oxides/hydroxides shell during the OER process. Our finding introduces a new concept to explore the design of high-efficiency OER electrocatalysts.
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at the Microscale, iChEM(Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Hefei Science Center (CAS) and CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Pengzuo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at the Microscale, iChEM(Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Hefei Science Center (CAS) and CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at the Microscale, iChEM(Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Hefei Science Center (CAS) and CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Zhiwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at the Microscale, iChEM(Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Hefei Science Center (CAS) and CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at the Microscale, iChEM(Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Hefei Science Center (CAS) and CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Junchi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at the Microscale, iChEM(Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Hefei Science Center (CAS) and CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Xiuli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at the Microscale, iChEM(Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Hefei Science Center (CAS) and CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at the Microscale, iChEM(Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Hefei Science Center (CAS) and CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at the Microscale, iChEM(Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Hefei Science Center (CAS) and CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China). czwu@ustc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Changzheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at the Microscale, iChEM(Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Hefei Science Center (CAS) and CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
keywords: 3D electrode configuration; cobalt nitride; electrocatalysts; oxygen evolution reaction; porous nanowire arrays