A One-Pot Three-In-One Synthetic Strategy to Immobilize Cobalt Corroles on Carbon Nanotubes for Oxygen Electrocatalysis

Molecular electrocatalysis requires the immobilization of molecular catalysts on electrode materials for practical uses. Direct adsorption of catalyst molecules on electrode materials is simple, but grafting molecules through chemical bonds can significantly improve electrocatalytic efficiency and durability. However, designing and synthesizing catalyst molecules to simultaneously improve catalytic activities and realize easy grafting on electrodes is challenging. The study herein reports on a one-pot strategy to graft Co corroles on pyridine-modified carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for oxygen electrocatalysis. By modifying CNTs with pyridines, the resulting pyridine-modified CNTs can function as platforms to grab in situ generated Co corroles through the axial pyridine ligation on Co. Such an immobilization strategy combines three effects for the regulation of electrocatalysis, including the axial ligand effect, the electron transfer effect, and the chemical bond effect. The resulting hybrid materials show high efficiency for oxygen electrocatalysis, and the Zn-air battery assembled using these materials displays comparable performance as the Pt/Ir-based battery. Moreover, the electrocatalytic efficiency of these hybrid materials can be systematically tuned by using different pyridines, highlighting the controllable feature of this strategy. Therefore, this work is significant to present a one-pot three-in-one strategy to immobilize catalyst molecules on CNTs for electrocatalysis. A one-pot three-in-one strategy is developed to immobilize Co corroles on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for oxygen electrocatalysis. Pyridine-functionalized CNTs can grab Co corroles through the axial pyridine ligation on Co. This strategy realizes the generation and immobilization of Co corroles on CNTs in a one-pot synthesis. By using different pyridines, the electrocatalytic features of molecule-engineered materials can be systematically regulated.image

Automated summary

This study presents a one-pot three-in-one strategy to immobilize Co corroles on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for oxygen electrocatalysis. By using pyridine-functionalized CNTs as the platforms, Co corroles can be grabbed through axial pyridine ligation. This strategy combines axial ligand effect, electron transfer effect, and chemical bond effect to regulate electrocatalysis. The resulting hybrid materials exhibit high efficiency for oxygen electrocatalysis and comparable performance to Pt/Ir-based batteries. The electrocatalytic features of the molecule-engineered materials can be selectively regulated by using different pyridines. This work is of significant importance for the immobilization of catalyst molecules on CNTs for electrocatalysis.