Catalytic manipulation of Ni nanostructures-immobilized CNTs via nitrogen coupling for robust water electrolysis and effective glucose detection

The development of a novel multifunctional high-performance electrocatalyst is a critical requirement for electrochemical applications. This study reports an effective engineering approach to enhance multi-integrated active sites of nickel (Ni) catalysts through the coupling of nitrogen (N) atoms to trigger surface-functionalized Ni nanoparticles that are well dispersed over a structure of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Excitingly, the N-doped Ni@CNTs material possesses good catalytic features with a required overpotential (h) of-133.8 mV to achieve 50 mA/cm2 toward hydrogen evolution reaction and-330 mV to achieve 100 mA/cm2 toward oxygen evolution reaction in 1.0 M KOH. To assess overall water splitting practicability, an electrolyzer device derived from the N-doped Ni@CNTs(+,_) is fabricated and shows an operation voltage of only-1.62 V at 10 mA/cm2 together with a prospective stability that is superior to Pt/ C(_)//RuO2(+). Furthermore, the non-enzymatic glucose sensor derived from the N-doped Ni@CNTs electrode displays high sensitivity of 5.2 mA/mM/cm2, wide linear range of (0.01-3.7) mM, low detection limit of-17.4 mM (S/N = 3), excellent selectivity, and long-term stability. Our study suggests that the developed N-doped Ni@CNTs are favorable catalyst for practical water electrolysis to produce green hydrogen and for non-enzymatic glucose sensor application. & COPY; 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study presents an effective engineering approach to enhance the multi-integrated active sites of nickel catalysts, resulting in N-doped Ni@CNTs material with excellent catalytic features for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions. The electrolyzer device derived from N-doped Ni@CNTs demonstrates a low operation voltage and superior stability compared to Pt/C(±)/RuO2(+). Additionally, the non-enzymatic glucose sensor derived from N-doped Ni@CNTs electrode exhibits high sensitivity, wide linear range, low detection limit, selectivity, and long-term stability.