Tuning the Activity of Carbon for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution via an Iridium‐Cobalt Alloy Core Encapsulated in Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Cages

• DOI: 10.1002/adma.201705324
• Publication Date: 2018-01-12T08:38:40Z
• Authors: Peng Jiang; Jitang Chen; Changlai Wang; Kang Yang; Shipeng Gong; Shuai Liu; Zhiyu Lin; Mengsi Li; Guoliang Xia; Yang Yang; Jianwei Su; Qianwang Chen
• Keywords: Carbon fibers

Abstract Graphene, a 2D material consisting of single layer sp 2 ‐hybridized carbon, exhibits inert activity as an electrocatalyst, while the incorporation heteroatoms (such N) into framework can tune its electronic properties. Because different electronegativity between N and C atoms, electrons will transfer from to in N‐doped graphene nanosheets, changing atoms adjacent N‐dopants active sites. Notwithstanding achieved progress, intrinsic acidic media is still far Pt/C. Here, facile annealing strategy adopted for Ir‐doped metal‐organic frameworks synthesize IrCo nanoalloys encapsulated layers. The highly with remarkably reduced Ir loading (1.56 wt%), achieves ultralow Tafel slope 23 mV dec −1 overpotential only 24 at current density 10 mA cm −2 0.5 m sulfuric acid solution. Such superior performance even noble‐metal catalyst Pt. Surface structural computational studies reveal that behavior originates decreased Δ G H* HER induced by transferred alloy core layers, which beneficial enhancing CH binding.