Photo-reduced Synthesis of Ag Fe/NC Nanoparticles and their Visible-Light-Enhanced Electrocatalytic Performances

Rational design of surface plasmon-enhanced electrocatalysts can effectively integrate solar energy into fuel cells. Herein, iron and nitrogen codoped carbon (Fe/NC) nanoparticles synthesized with microemulsion are used to absorb and photo-reduce Ag ions in solutions to form Ag nanoparticles on Fe/NC (Ag-Fe/NC). Different Ag-Fe/NC materials are prepared by adjusting the concentration of AgNO3 solution. Among them, Ag-Fe/NC obtained with 0.5 mg ml(-1) AgNO3 solution shows the highest oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic performance and light-enhanced ORR characteristics, even better than commercial Pt/C. Besides, Ag-Fe/NC displays excellent long-term stability and high methanol resistance for ORR performances in alkaline medium. Therefore, this study will provide a new method for integrating light to recover Ag ions in solutions and improve electrocatalytic properties.

Automated summary

Rational design of surface plasmon-enhanced electrocatalysts can effectively integrate solar energy into fuel cells. In this study, iron and nitrogen codoped carbon nanoparticles were used to absorb and photo-reduce silver ions in solution, forming silver nanoparticles on the carbon surface. The resulting material, Ag-Fe/NC, exhibited superior catalytic performance for the oxygen reduction reaction, even surpassing commercial platinum catalysts. Additionally, Ag-Fe/NC showed excellent long-term stability and resistance to methanol in alkaline conditions.