Metal Nitride/Graphene Nanohybrids: General Synthesis and Multifunctional Titanium Nitride/Graphene Electrocatalyst

Abstract

A facile, efficient, and general strategy is developed for the fabrication of a new class of nanohybrids consisting of nitrogen-doped graphene functionalized with metal nitride nanoparticles. The graphene decorated with titanium nitride nanoparticles is explored for multifunctional electrocatalytic applications, i.e., as a low-cost counter electrode for I(3)(-) reduction in dye-sensitized solar cells and for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) oxidation in dehydrogenase enzyme-based biosensors.

Nitrogen-doped graphene nanosheets as high efficient catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction

“…The NGNSs was prepared through a minor modified route of our recent work [18]. Typically, 2 mL 50% cyanamide solution (Sigma-Aldrich, USA) was added into 20 mL graphene oxide solution (about 1.2 mg/mL) under stirring with heating at 80°C until completely drying, the powders were heated to 750 or 900°C under argon protection and annealed for 2 h, the resulted black powder was carefully collected because the products had a low mass density and was very facile to fly out, and denoted as NGNSs-750 and NGNSs-900 respectively.…”

“…For instance, special equipment and ammonia gas are necessary via the route of chemical vapor deposition or arc discharge methods, and the assistance of catalysts or template were used for preparing nitrogen containing carbon nanotubes [12], mesoporous carbon [14], and graphene [16,17], which would greatly increase the burdensome of synthesis. We recently developed a general strategy for the fabrication of a new class of nanohybrids consisting of nitrogen doped graphene (NG) functionalized with various metal nitride nanoparticles [18], and this method was extended to a reliable synthetic route to enable facile scalable synthesis of nitrogen doped graphene nanosheets (NGNSs). Surprisingly, the as-developed NGNSs possess an ultrahigh pore volume as high as 3.42 m 3 /g and a considerable surface area, the NGNSs are further investigated to be used as catalysts for ORR, which show excellent electrochemical performance in terms of the current density and long term stability relative to the Pt/C catalysts.…”

Recent Progress on the Synthesis of Graphene-Based Nanostructures as Counter Electrodes in DSSCs Based on Iodine/Iodide Electrolytes

“…A versatile route to synthesize doped graphene/metal nitride hybrids was reported by Wen et al [25]. First, a hybrid of carbon nitride (C 3 N 4 ) and graphene oxide was synthesized by a thermal treatment of a GO/cyanamide mixture at the moderate temperature of 400 • C. The C 3 N 4 /GO hybrid was then dispersed in a solution containing the Ti metal precursor, and the dried blend was annealed at 750 • C. This led to the simultaneous decomposition of carbon nitride, nitrogen doping in graphene, and the formation of metal-nitride nanoparticles on the graphene surface.…”

“…A versatile route to synthesize doped graphene/metal nitride hybrids was reported by Wen et al [25]. First, a hybrid of carbon nitride (C3N4) and graphene oxide was synthesized by a thermal treatment of a GO/cyanamide mixture at the moderate temperature of 400 °C.…”

Nanostructured transition metal nitride composites as energy storage material

“…Moreover, TiN represents a good conductivity and is favorable to enhance the rate performance of LIB, such as Li 4 Ti 5 O l2 /TiN [9] and Si/TiN [10]. Recently, TiNgraphene hybrid has also been studied for its electric catalysis in dye-sensitized solar cell and biosensor [11]. Herein, the review describes some recent developments of our group in research of transition metal nitride nanocomposites in application of energy storage, especially for LIB and supercapacitor.…”