The Catalyst Review July 2024 - 11

Experimental Abstracts
Carbon/Nitrogen Co-Modified Nano-Ni Catalyst Endows a High Energy Density and
Low Cost Aqueous Ni−H2 Gas Battery
Aqueous hydrogen gas batteries are attractive, albeit costly, candidates for large-scale energy storage systems. Efforts to develop costefficient
systems have focused on using high-activity, nonprecious metal catalysts such as nickel for the hydrogen oxidation reaction
(HOR). Herein, these authors describe the preparation and use of nanostructured carbon/nitrogen catalysts, one of which (N−Ni/C-4)
exhibited an intrinsic activity 17.85 times that of commercial Raney-Ni.
Preparation of the N-Ni/C-4 type catalysts involved carbon modification of Ni(OH)2
by ball-milling with glucose, followed by nitrogen
modification using a mixture of ammonia and hydrogen during solid-state sintering (Figure 1a). Experimental results demonstrated that
when carbon modification precedes nitrogen modification, the interaction between carbon and nitrogen suppresses the formation of
Ni3
N. On the other hand, trace nitrogen modification on nickel significantly enhances the hydroxide activity. The results of characterization
studies are presented in Figure 1 b-f.
Figure 1 Preparation and characterization of Ni3
HRTEM of the image of Ni3
N/Ni; (d) TEM and HRTEM of the image of N−Ni/C-4; (e) Ni 2P3/2
N/Ni, N−Ni/C-2, N−Ni/C-4, and N−Ni/C-6. (a) Schematic diagram; (b) XRD pattern; (c) TEM and
XPS spectra of N−Ni/C-2, N−Ni/C-4, and N−Ni/C-6; (f) N
1s XPS spectra of N−Ni/C-2, N−Ni/C-4, and N−Ni/C-6; (g) C 1s XPS spectra of N−Ni/C-2, N−Ni/C-4, and N−Ni/C-6.
The electrocatalytic activity of nickel-based catalysts, including N−Ni/C-2, N−Ni/C-4, N− Ni/C-6, and Ni3
N/Ni, for the hydrogen oxidation
reaction (HOR) in a 0.1 M KOH solution was measured using a rotating disk electrode (RDE), and the results were compared with reference
measurements using a commercial Raney nickel catalyst. These results indicate that N−Ni/C-4 exhibits an impressive alkaline HOR
catalytic performance compared to Raney nickel as noted above. It was also observed that the hydrogen evolution overpotential of the
N−Ni/C-4 catalyst is the lowest among the three, demonstrating its superior hydrogen evolution capability.
The Catalyst Review
July 2024
11

The Catalyst Review July 2024

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