title: When Layered Nickel-Cobalt Silicate Hydroxide Nanosheets Meet Carbon Nanotubes: A Synergetic Coaxial Nanocable Structure for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation.
abstract: Developing robust earth-abundant electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is an ongoing scientific challenge, which is coupled with a number of important electrochemical processes and many key renewable energy systems, such as water splitting, rechargeable metal-air batteries, and regenerative fuel cells. Here, we proposed a rational design and fabrication of the synergetic coaxial nanocable structures by intimate growth of the layered nickel-cobalt silicate hydroxide nanosheets on the outer surfaces of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs@NCS) and demonstrated their high efficiency in electrocatalytic OER from water splitting. The electrocatalytic activities of the MWCNTs@NCS were found to be significantly higher than that of bare NCS and pristine MWCNTs, synergetically determining by such the constituted individual components. Among them, the MWCNTs@NCS-2 exhibited best electrocatalytic OER performance, showing a small OER onset potential, large anodic current and long-term durability, which was favorably comparable to the previously reported NiCo-based OER electrocatalysts in alkaline electrolytes. To the best of our knowledge, this was a first example on the earth-abundant metal silicate hydroxides utilized in electrochemical water splitting.
authors.affiliation: Chemical Synthesis and Pollution Control Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, China West Normal University , Nanchong 637002, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ce
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Chemical Synthesis and Pollution Control Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, China West Normal University , Nanchong 637002, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Chemical Synthesis and Pollution Control Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, China West Normal University , Nanchong 637002, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lunhong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ai
keywords: carbon nanotube; electrocatalyst; nickel−cobalt silicate hydroxide; oxygen evolution; water oxidation