In this work, the covalent attachment of an amine functionalized metal‐organic framework (UiO‐66‐NH2 = Zr6O4(OH)4(bdc‐NH2)6; bdc‐NH2 = 2‐amino‐1,4‐benzenedicarboxylate) (UiO‐Universitetet i Oslo) to the basal‐plane of carboxylate functionalized graphene (graphene acid = GA) via amide bonds is reported. The resultant GA@UiO‐66‐NH2 hybrid displayed a large specific surface area, hierarchical pores and an interconnected conductive network. The electrochemical characterizations demonstrated that the hybrid GA@UiO‐66‐NH2 acts as an effective charge storing material with a capacitance of up to 651 F g−1, significantly higher than traditional graphene‐based materials. The results suggest that the amide linkage plays a key role in the formation of a π‐conjugated structure, which facilitates charge transfer and consequently offers good capacitance and cycling stability. Furthermore, to realize the practical feasibility, an asymmetric supercapacitor using a GA@UiO‐66‐NH2 positive electrode with Ti3C2TX MXene as the opposing electrode has been constructed. The cell is able to deliver a power density of up to 16 kW kg−1 and an energy density of up to 73 Wh kg−1, which are comparable to several commercial devices such as Pb‐acid and Ni/MH batteries. Under an intermediate level of loading, the device retained 88% of its initial capacitance after 10 000 cycles.
the extensive use of fossil fuels not only causes severe environmental issues but also compromises efforts to attain a sustainable energy future. [1,2] This has made researchers to investigate cost-effective and non-polluting alternatives to produce energy in a greener manner, through such systems as photovoltaic cells, electrolyzers, and fuel cells. Among them, fuel cells have attracted great attention over the past few years. [1] These devices can convert the chemical energy in fuels such as hydrogen, alcohols, organic acids, and hydrazine into electricity, with high efficiency and minimal greenhouse gas emissions. Among the fuels used in fuel cells, hydrazine is of particular interest for the following three reasons: 1) It produces only N 2 and H 2 O and it does not release the greenhouse gas CO 2 or other harmful byproducts as fossil fuels do; 2) Hydrazine is relatively easy to store and transport with existing infrastructures, as it is liquid at room temperature; and 3) Direct hydrazine fuel cells (DHFCs) have a large theoretical cell voltage (+1.61 V) and higher energy/power density than many other fuel cells (e.g., compared with H 2 /O 2 fuel cell, which is considered one of the best fuel cells). [1] However, Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have aroused great attention due to their high atom efficiency and unprecedented catalytic properties. A remaining challenge is to anchor the single atoms individually on support materials via strong interactions. Herein, single atom Co sites have been developedon functionalized graphene by taking advantage of the strong interaction between Co 2+ ions and the nitrile group of cyanographene. The potential of the material, which is named G(CN)Co, as a SAC is demonstrated using the electrocatalytic hydrazine oxidation reaction (HzOR). The material exhibits excellent catalytic activity for HzOR, driving the reaction with low overpotential and high current density while remaining stable during long reaction times. Thus, this material can be a promising alternative to conventional noble metal-based catalysts that are currently widely used in HzOR-based fuel cells. Density functional theory calculations of the reaction mechanism over the material reveal that the Co(II) sites on G(CN)Co can efficiently interact with hydrazine molecules and promote the NH bond-dissociation steps involved in the HzOR.
Using enzymes as bioelectrocatalysts is an important step toward the next level of biotechnology for energy production. In such biocatalysts, a sacrificial cofactor as an electron and proton source is needed. This is a great obstacle for upscaling, due to cofactor instability and product separation issues, which increase the costs. Here, we report a cofactor-free electroreduction of CO2 to a high energy density chemical (methanol) catalyzed by enzyme–graphene hybrids. The biocatalyst consists of dehydrogenases covalently bound on a well-defined carboxyl graphene derivative, serving the role of a conductive nanoplatform. This nanobiocatalyst achieves reduction of CO2 to methanol at high current densities, which remain unchanged for at least 20 h of operation, without production of other soluble byproducts. It is thus shown that critical improvements on the stability and rate of methanol production at a high Faradaic efficiency of 12% are possible, due to the effective electrochemical process from the electrode to the enzymes via the graphene platform.
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