Coupling Sub-Nanometric Copper Clusters with Quasi-Amorphous Cobalt Sulfide Yields Efficient and Robust Electrocatalysts for Water Splitting Reaction

Yipu Liu; Qiuju Li; Rui Si; Guo-Dong Li; Wang Li; Da-Peng Liu; Dejun Wang; Lei Sun; Yu Zhang; Xiaoxin Zou

doi:10.1002/adma.201606200

Coupling Sub-Nanometric Copper Clusters with Quasi-Amorphous Cobalt Sulfide Yields Efficient and Robust Electrocatalysts for Water Splitting Reaction

Adv Mater. 2017 Apr;29(13). doi: 10.1002/adma.201606200. Epub 2017 Jan 27.

Authors

Yipu Liu¹, Qiuju Li¹, Rui Si², Guo-Dong Li¹, Wang Li³, Da-Peng Liu³, Dejun Wang^{1

4}, Lei Sun⁵, Yu Zhang³, Xiaoxin Zou¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China.
² Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201204, P. R. China.
³ Key Laboratory of Bio-Inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Environment, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, P. R. China.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Dalian, 116023, P. R. China.

PMID: 28128868
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201606200

Abstract

Superefficient water-splitting materials comprising sub-nanometric copper clusters and quasi-amorphous cobalt sulfide supported on copper foam are reported. While working together at both the anode and cathode sides of an alkaline electrolyzer, this material gives a catalytic output of overall water splitting comparable with the Pt/C-IrO₂ -coupled electrolyzer.

Keywords: composite materials; electrocatalysis; energy; water splitting.