Issue 14, 2019

Methacrylated gelatin-embedded fabrication of 3D graphene-supported Co3O4 nanoparticles for water splitting

Abstract

We developed a general platform for the fabrication of transition metal oxide nanoparticles supported by a graphene foam (GF) by first coating it with a methacrylated gelatin (GelMA) hydrogel, which served as a 3D matrix for nanoparticle dispersion. The engineered GelMA/GF matrix was hydrophilic with good mechanical strength and high conductivity, therefore providing a good platform for the dispersion of a variety of metal/oxide precursors. Due to this platform, well-dispersed Co3O4 nanoparticles with the smallest size of 3 nm assembled on the nitrogen-doped graphene foam (Co3O4/NGF). The crystalline transformation from a CoCl2[H2O]2 precursor to Co3O4 was revealed by in operando X-ray diffraction and absorption techniques. After applying Co3O4/NGF as a free-standing electrocatalyst for water splitting, the nanoparticles of size 3 nm exhibited optimal catalytic activity in alkaline media; the corresponding cell could promote water splitting at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 with only 1.63 V and exhibited excellent stability in a 25 h long-term operation. Our results demonstrate that the GelMA hydrogel-coated 3D graphene foam can be a promising platform for the design and fabrication of graphene-based multifunctional materials.

Graphical abstract: Methacrylated gelatin-embedded fabrication of 3D graphene-supported Co3O4 nanoparticles for water splitting

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Dec 2018
Accepted
12 Mar 2019
First published
13 Mar 2019

Nanoscale, 2019,11, 6866-6875

Methacrylated gelatin-embedded fabrication of 3D graphene-supported Co3O4 nanoparticles for water splitting

M. Zhuang, Z. Liu, Y. Ding, G. Xu, Y. Li, A. Tyagi, X. Zhang, C. Sun, Y. Ren, X. Ou, H. Wong, Y. Cai, R. Wu, I. H. Abidi, Q. Zhang, F. Xu, K. Amine and Z. Luo, Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 6866 DOI: 10.1039/C8NR10369K

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