Sungkyunkwan University<\/a> and lead by Associate Director Lee Hyoyoung. The IBS research team have successfully established an automatically dispersed Ni-Co dimer structure stabilised on a nitrogen-doped carbon support, which they named NiCo-SAD-NC.<\/p>\n\u201cWe synthesised Ni-Co single atom dimer structure on nitrogen (N)-doped carbon support via in-situ trapping of Ni\/Co ions into the polydopamine sphere, followed by pyrolysis with precisely controlled N-coordination,\u201d explained Ashwani Kumar, the first author of the study. \u201cWe employed state-of-the-art transmission electron microscopy and x-ray absorption spectroscopy to successfully identify these NiCo-SAD sites with atomic precision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Optimal dimer structure conditions research<\/h3>\n These researchers discovered that annealing for two hours at 800\u00b0C within an argon atmosphere was the optimal condition for obtaining the dimer structure. Other alternative atom dimers, such as CoMn and CoFe could also be synthesised utilising the same method, proving the universality of their strategy. They also evaluated the catalytic efficiency of this new system regarding the overpotential required to drive the hydrogen evolution reaction. The NiCo-SAD-NC electrocatalyst has a comparable level of overvoltage as commercial Pt-based catalysts in acidic and alkaline media. NiCo-Sad-NC also went on to preform eight times higher activity levels than NI\/Co single-atom catalysts and heterogeneous NiCo nanoparticles in alkaline media. Simultaneously, it achieved 17- and 11-times higher activity than Co and Ni single-atom catalysts, and 13 times higher than the conventional Ni\/Co nanoparticles in acidic media.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the researchers also exhibited the long-term stability of the new catalyst, which was able to drive reaction for 50 hours without any structural change. The NiCo-SAD exhibited superior water dissociation and optimal proton absorption, when compared to other single-atom dimers and Ni\/Co single-atom sites, enhancing the activity of PH-universal catalysts established on the density functional theory simulation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were very excited to discover that the novel NiCo-SAD structure dissociates water molecules with a much lower energy barrier and accelerates hydrogen evolution reaction in both alkaline and acidic media with performances comparable to that of Pt,\u201d said the corresponding author of the study, Associate Director Lee Hyoyoung. \u201cThis addressed the shortcomings of the individual Ni and Co single-atom catalysts. The synthesis of such single atom dimer structure was a long-standing challenge in the field of single-atom catalysts.\u201d He added, \u201cthis study takes us a step closer to a carbon-free and green hydrogen economy. This highly efficient and inexpensive hydrogen generation electrocatalyst will help us overcome long-term challenges of cost-competitive green hydrogen production: to produce high-purity hydrogen for commercial applications at a low price and in an eco-friendly manner.\u201d<\/p>\n
This study was published in\u00a0Nature Communications\u00a0<\/em>(IF 14.92), a world-renowned journal in the field of basic science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers discover that nickel-cobalt metal dimer on nitrogen-doped carbon can catalyse electrolysis under both acidic and alkaline conditions. The increasingly foreboding threats of climate change, companied with the limited reservoir of fossil fuels, has made it necessary for scientists to develop alternative technologies to produce more sustainable fuel alternatives. Green hydrogen generated from the electrolysis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":15993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24204],"tags":[24134,24413,628],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Single-atom dimer electrocatalyst for green hydrogen production<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n