Transition metal oxide and phosphide; oxygen reduction reaction; oxygen and hydrogen evolution reaction; water electrolyzer; zinc-air battery.
Table Of Contents
Ⅰ. Chapter 1: Synthesis and Characterization of NiCo-RuO2/gNC as an efficient electrocatalyst for rechargeable zinc air batteries. 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.1.1 Components and working principles of ZAB. 3 1.1.2 Reaction Mechanism 4 1.1.3 Current status and challenges of ZABs 5 1.1.4 Motivation and objectives 6 1.1.5 Main objective 8 1.1.5.1 Specific objectives 8 1.2 Experimental Section. 9 1.2.1 Materials 9 1.2.2 Synthesis of highly graphitic N-doped carbon (gNC) via Mg reduction. 10 1.2.3 Synthesis of Nickel and Cobalt doped Ruthenium Oxide Supported on gNC (NiCo-RuO2/gNC) 10 1.2.4 Electrochemical Measurements. 11 1.3 Results and Discussion 12 1.3.1 Characterization of Materials 12 1.3.2 Electrochemical OER performance 22 1.3.3 Electrochemical ORR performance 24 1.3.4 Zn-Air Battery Performance. 26 1.3.4.1 Preparation of NiCo-RuO2/gNC air electrodes. 26 1.3.4.2 Assembly and practical evaluation of rechargeable zinc-air battery (RZAB) operating on NiCo-RuO2/gNC electrodes. 27 1.3.5 Origin of the excellent performance. 31 1.4 Conclusion 32 1.5 References 34 II. Chapter 2: Synthesis of Carbon Coated Phosphate-Functionalized Ruthenium-Iron Electrocatalyst for Overall Water Splitting: Highly Efficient Binder Free Electrodes for Hydrogen Generation in Alkaline and Neutral Media 42 2.1 Introduction 42 2.1.1 Overview of Hydrogen Production Through Water Electrolysis. 42 2.1.2 Current status and challenges of water electrolysis 45 2.2 Experimental Section 49 2.2.1 Materials 49 2.2.2 Substrate (NF) preparation 50 2.2.3 Synthesis of RuFe/NF 50 2.2.4 Synthesis of RuFe@C/NF 50 2.2.5 Synthesis of RuFeP/NF and RuFeP@C/NF 51 2.2.6 Electrocatalytic Activity 51 2.3 Results and Discussion 52 2.3.1 Structural Identification 52 2.3.2 Electrochemical OER performance 60 2.3.3 Electrochemical HER performance (Alkaline and Neutral medium) 67 2.3.4 Temperature and compositional ratio effect on the electrochemical OER/HER performance 70 2.3.5 Origin of the Excellent Performance of RuFeP@C/NF: Synthesis of Ru/NF, RuP/NF, RuP@C/NF, Fe/NF, FeP/NF, and FeP@C/NF. 73 2.3.6 Overall water splitting performance. 76 2.4 Conclusion 79 2.5 References 81