Hierarchical nano-on-micro copper with enhanced catalytic activity towards electro-oxidation of hydrazine

doi:10.1007/s11706-018-0410-7

Front. Mater. Sci.

2018, Vol. 12

Issue (1) : 45-52 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-018-0410-7

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Hierarchical nano-on-micro copper with enhanced catalytic activity towards electro-oxidation of hydrazine

Xiaodong YAN¹, Yuan LIU², Kyle R. SCHEEL¹, Yong LI¹, Yunhua YU³, Xiaoping YANG³(

), Zhonghua PENG¹(

)

¹. Department of Chemistry, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
². State Key Lab of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
³. State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China

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Abstract

The electrochemical properties of catalyst materials are highly dependent on the materials structure and architecture. Herein, nano-on-micro Cu electrodes are fabricated by growing Cu microcrystals on Ni foam substrate, followed by introducing Cu nanocrystals onto the surface of the Cu microcrystals. The introduction of Cu nanocrystals onto the surface of Cu microcrystals is shown to dramatically increase the electrochemically active surface area and thus significantly enhances the catalytic activity of the catalyst electrode towards electro-oxidation of hydrazine. The onset potential (−1.04 V vs. Ag/AgCl) of the nano-on-micro Cu electrode is lower than those of the reported Cu-based catalysts under similar testing conditions, and a current density of 16 mA·cm⁻², which is 2 times that of the microsized Cu electrode, is achieved at a potential of −0.95 V vs. Ag/AgCl. Moreover, the nano-on-micro Cu electrode demonstrates good long-term stability.

Keywords electrocatalysis hydrazine oxidation copper nanocrystal hierarchical architecture

Corresponding Author(s): Xiaoping YANG,Zhonghua PENG

Online First Date: 12 January 2018 Issue Date: 07 March 2018

Cite this article:

Xiaodong YAN,Yuan LIU,Kyle R. SCHEEL, et al. Hierarchical nano-on-micro copper with enhanced catalytic activity towards electro-oxidation of hydrazine[J]. Front. Mater. Sci., 2018, 12(1): 45-52.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/foms/EN/10.1007/s11706-018-0410-7
https://academic.hep.com.cn/foms/EN/Y2018/V12/I1/45

Fig.1 Schematic illustration of the preparation process of the nano-on-micro Cu electrode.

Fig.2 SEM images of (a) the microsized Cu electrode and (b) the Cu₂O/Cu/Ni. (c) HRTEM image of the Cu₂O nanowires from the Cu₂O/Cu/Ni. (d) XRD patterns of the microsized Cu electrode (i) and the Cu₂O/Cu/Ni (ii). (e)(f) SEM and (g) TEM images and (h) XRD pattern of the nano-on-micro Cu electrode. The inset in (g) is the corresponding HRTEM image. ♦, *, and ◊ indicate the XRD signals from Cu₂O (JCPDS 05-0667), Cu (JCPDS 04-0836), and Ni (JCPDS 04-0850), respectively.

Fig.3 XPS spectra of the Cu₂O/Cu/Ni (a) and the nano-on-micro Cu electrode (b).

Fig.4 (a) Polarization curves of the microsized Cu electrode and the nano-on-micro Cu electrode. (b) Stability test of the nano-on-micro Cu electrode.

Tab.1 Comparison of onset potentials for various materials in electro-oxidation of hydrazine

Fig.5 Charging current density difference ?j (j_a−j_c) plotted against the scan rate.

Fig. S1 Voltammograms of (a) the nano-on-micro Cu electrode and (b) the microsized Cu electrode collected at varied scan rates of 10, 20, 40, 60 and 80 mV?s⁻¹ in 1.0 mol/L KOH.

Fig. S2 SEM image of bare Ni foam.

Fig. S3 Electrochemical reduction of the Cu₂O/Cu/Ni series to achieve the hierarchical nano-on-micro Cu electrode: ten voltammograms collected continuously.

Fig. S4 Polarization curves of various samples. For comparison, hydrothermal treatments were performed on microsized Cu electrode with only either urea (HT-Cu without Cu(NO₃)₂) or Cu(NO₃)₂ (HT-Cu without urea) in the reaction solutions.

Fig. S5 SEM image of the nano-on-micro Cu electrode after the stability test.

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