The research group of Professor Chen Qianwang of the University of science and technology of China has made new progress in the field of electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution of carbon based catalysts

In recent years, hydrogen production from electrolyzed water has been widely concerned It has become a research hotspot to find cheap and efficient electrocatalysts that can replace precious metals Graphene has attracted the attention of researchers because of its good conductivity, excellent chemical stability and easy chemical modification People are committed to develop it into a highly active catalyst for hydrogen production from electrolytic water It has been shown that the electronic structure of the carbon atom near the heteroatom can be controlled by doping nitrogen and other heteroatom, and the adsorption between the active site of the carbon atom and the reaction intermediate can be enhanced, so as to improve the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of carbon based materials such as graphene However, the traditional pyridine, pyrrole and graphite nitrogen doping modes have poor effect on the performance control of graphene and other carbon based catalysts, and there is still a big gap compared with the reported high activity metal based catalysts In this work, density functional theory (DFT) calculation shows that the electronic structure of carbon atom (the carbon atom combined with two nitrogen atoms) in the material can be significantly changed by the double graphite nitrogen doping in a six membered ring of graphene lattice, and the Δ g h * value of carbon active site can be reduced to very close to 0 EV, which is expected to further improve the catalytic activity of hydrogen evolution of carbon based materials In this study, Cu BTC, a metal organic framework compound, was used as the precursor, and graphene like particles were obtained by calcination and solvothermal treatment After CV cycle, the acid electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of the graphene like particles was gradually improved When it reached the optimal value, its overpotential was only 57mv and Tafel slope was 44.6mv/dec at the current density of 10mA / cm 2, Compared with the reported highly active metal based catalysts and Pt / C catalysts, the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of the catalysts is better The results of infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray near edge absorption fine structure and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance show that the carbon based material has formed a new structure of double graphite nitrogen doped in a six membered ring of graphene lattice, and the carbons bonded with two adjacent graphite nitrogen are catalytic active sites, which is conducive to enhancing h in C Adsorption on the active site, thereby improving the catalytic activity The research results were published in angel Chem Int ed (DOI: 10.1002 / anie 201908210) under the title of "dual graphic-n doping in a six membered C-ring of graphene analog particles enables an efficient electrocatalytic system for the hydraulic evolution reaction" Professor Chen Qianwang, Department of materials science and engineering, University of science and technology of China, is the corresponding author of the paper Lin Zhiyu, doctoral student, University of science and technology of China, and Yang Yang, postdoctoral student, are the co authors of the paper Hefei National Laboratory of synchrotron radiation, Shanghai synchrotron radiation source and Hefei steady state strong magnetic field center provide important help for the characterization and analysis of experimental results, and the research is supported by NSFC, etc.