Enhancing Cu-ligand interaction for efficient CO reduction towards multi-carbon products.

Electrochemical CO reduction (COR) to valuable products provides a promising strategy to enable CO utilization sustainably. Here, we report the strategy of using Cu-DAT (3,5-diamino-1,2,4-triazole) as a catalyst precursor for efficient CO reduction, demonstrating over 80% selectivity towards multicarbon products at 400 mA cm, with intrinsic activity over 19 times higher than that of Cu nanoparticles. The catalysts active phase is determined to be metallic copper wrapped with the DAT ligand.

Lattice strain controlled Ni@NiCu efficient anode catalysts for direct borohydride fuel cells.

We successfully fabricated a novel tensile lattice strained Ni@NiCu catalyst with a popcorn-like morphology, which is composed of a crystalline Ni core and a NiCu alloy shell. It exhibits outstanding catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability towards borohydride electrooxidation. Moreover, a direct borohydride fuel cell (DBFC) with a Ni@NiCu anode can deliver a power density of 433 mW cm and an open circuit voltage of 1.

Bioinspired Hydrophobicity Coupled with Single Fe-N Sites Promotes Oxygen Diffusion for Efficient Zinc-Air Batteries.

The poor oxygen diffusion and sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics at multiphase interfaces in the cathode suppress the practical application of zinc-air batteries. Developing effective strategies to tackle the issue is of great significance for overcoming the performance bottleneck but remains challenging. Here, a multiscale hydrophobic surface is designed on the iron single-atom catalyst via a gas-phase fluorination-assisted method inspired by the structure of gas-trapping mastoids on lotus leaves.

Succulent-plant-like Ni-Co alloy efficient catalysts for direct borohydride fuel cells.

A Ni-Co alloy catalyst with a unique succulent-plant-like morphology is prepared by a simple electrodeposition method, while the effects of deposition conditions on its performance are also investigated systematically. The research results show that the Ni-Co catalyst exhibits excellent activity, selectivity, and stability to the borohydride oxidation reaction. Moreover, when Ni-Co is assembled as the anode catalyst, the direct borohydride fuel cell delivers a peak power density of 490 mW cm and an open-circuit voltage of 1.

Porous Ni-Cu Alloy Dendrite Anode Catalysts with High Activity and Selectivity for Direct Borohydride Fuel Cells.

A porous Ni-Cu alloy dendrite catalyst covered by Ni nanoparticles (Ni-np@NC) has been fabricated by an ultrafast and controllable strategy. The research results show that the morphology of the Ni-Cu alloy depends strongly on the Cuconcentration. Moreover, the Ni-np@NC catalyst demonstrates excellent selectivity and activity toward the borohydride oxidation reaction (BOR).

An efficient Ni-P amorphous alloy electrocatalyst with a hierarchical structure toward borohydride oxidation.

Nickel has been widely researched in the electrooxidation of borohydride due to its low cost and abundant reserves, but its catalytic activity and stability need to be improved for practical application. In this work, a Ni and P deposited nickel foam (Ni-P@NF) catalyst electrode with a unique hierarchical structure is prepared by a simple one-step electrodeposition method. The structure, morphology, and catalytic performances of Ni-P@NF are investigated systematically.