Anhui Normal University

About: Anhui Normal University is a education organization based out in Wuhu, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Population. The organization has 7955 authors who have published 7309 publications receiving 117443 citations.

Accelerating water dissociation kinetics by isolating cobalt atoms into ruthenium lattice.

Abstract: Designing highly active and robust platinum-free catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction is of vital importance for clean energy applications yet challenging. Here we report highly active and stable cobalt-substituted ruthenium nanosheets for hydrogen evolution, in which cobalt atoms are isolated in ruthenium lattice as revealed by aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray absorption fine structure measurement. Impressively, the cobalt-substituted ruthenium nanosheets only need an extremely low overpotential of 13 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in 1 M KOH media and an ultralow Tafel slope of 29 mV dec−1, which exhibit top-level catalytic activity among all reported platinum-free electrocatalysts. The theoretical calculations reveal that the energy barrier of water dissociation can greatly reduce after single cobalt atom substitution, leading to its superior hydrogen evolution performance. This study provides a new insight into the development of highly efficient platinum-free hydrogen evolution catalysts. Water splitting provides an appealing route to generating carbon-neutral fuel, however the scarcity and cost of platinum, often used as a catalyst, necessitates a search for alternatives. Here, authors show cobalt atoms in ruthenium nanosheets to afford excellent hydrogen production activities.

A reliable aerosol-spray-assisted approach to produce and optimize amorphous metal oxide catalysts for electrochemical water splitting.

Abstract: An aerosol-spray-assisted approach (ASAA) is proposed and confirmed as a precisely controllable and continuous method to fabricate amorphous mixed metal oxides for electrochemical water splitting. The proportion of metal elements can be accurately controlled to within (5±5) %. The products can be sustainably obtained, which is highly suitable for industrial applications. ASAA was used to show that Fe6Ni10O(x) is the best catalyst among the investigated Fe-Ni-O(x) series with an overpotential of as low as 0.286 V (10 mA cm(-2)) and a Tafel slope of 48 mV/decade for the electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction. Therefore, this work contributes a versatile, continuous, and reliable way to produce and optimize amorphous metal oxide catalysts.

Novel one-dimensional Bi2O3–Bi2WO6 p–n hierarchical heterojunction with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Abstract: A novel one-dimensional (1D) Bi2O3 nanorod–Bi2WO6 nanosheet p–n junction photocatalyst was prepared by a three-step synthetic route. The obtained products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and N2-sorption–desorption and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area. Bi2O3 rods with the diameter of about 200 nm were obtained by calcining a Bi(OHC2O4)·2H2O precursor. Bi2WO6 nanosheets vertically grew on the Bi2O3 rods along the long axial direction. The photocatalytic activity required to degrade Rhodamine B (RhB) and phenol under solar/visible light by p–n junction of Bi2O3–Bi2WO6 nanorods was investigated. The results demonstrate that the novel Bi2O3–Bi2WO6 p–n heterostructures display higher photocatalytic activity than single Bi2O3 nanorods or Bi2WO6 flowers. The enhancement of the photocatalytic activity of the Bi2O3–Bi2WO6 p–n junction structures can be ascribed to strong visible light absorption and the effective separation of photogenerated electrons and holes by the internal electrostatic field in the junction region. More importantly, 1D p–n heterostructures made of ordered nanosheets are beneficial for the transport of photogenerated carriers and for increasing the rate of the photocatalytic reaction. This work could offer a new insight into the design and fabrication of advanced materials with heterojunction structures for photocatalytic applications and optoelectronic devices.