Highly Efficient Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution Over Atomically Dispersed Synergistic Ni/Co Dual Sites

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) are being pursued as economical electrocatalysts. However, their low active-site loading, poor interactions, and unclear catalytic mechanism call for significant advances. Herein, atomically dispersed Ni/Co dual sites anchored on nitrogen-doped carbon (a-NiCo/NC) hollow prisms are rationally designed and synthesized. Benefiting from the atomically dispersed dual-metal sites and their synergistic interactions, the obtained a-NiCo/NC sample exhibits superior electrocatalytic activity and kinetics towards the oxygen evolution reaction. Moreover, density functional theory calculations indicate that the strong synergistic interactions from heteronuclear paired Ni/Co dual sites lead to the optimization of the electronic structure and the reduced reaction energy barrier. This work provides a promising strategy for the synthesis of high-efficiency atomically dispersed dual-site SACs in the field of electrochemical energy storage and conversion.

Automated summary

In this study, a catalyst with atomically dispersed Ni/Co dual-metal sites anchored on nitrogen-doped carbon hollow prisms was successfully designed and synthesized. This catalyst exhibits superior electrocatalytic activity and kinetics, and density functional theory calculations showed strong synergistic interactions and optimized electronic structure, resulting in reduced reaction energy barrier.