Sulfur and Nitrogen Codoped Carbon Tubes as Bifunctional Metal‐Free Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction and Hydrogen Evolution in Acidic Media

Abstract

What is the most significant result of this study? Sulfur and nitrogen codoped carbon tubes present high electroca-talytic performance for both oxygen reduction and hydrogen evolution reactions in acidic media. This is the first example of abifunc-tional metal-free electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction and hydrogen evolution, suggesting the prospect of technological combination of fuel cells with water electrolysis for clean energy utilization. What was the inspiration for this cover design? When we were invited to submit acover for consideration, the first thought is how to show the main features of the sulfur and nitrogen codoped carbon-based metal-free electrocatalyst: high-performance and bifunctional arising from the synergetic effect of sulfur and nitrogen dopants. Considering that this electrocatalyst can accelerate the oxygen reduction reaction to produce water in proton exchange membrane fuel cells and catalyze the hydrogen evolution reaction to split water in electrolytic cells, we depicted af uel cell and an electrolytic cell in the water with plentiful bubbles , and the cells could be technologically combined by the mutual electrocatalyst. What other topics are you working on at the moment? Beside our research on the development of non-precious metal electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction and hydrogen evolution, we are also active in exploring high-performance electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage. We focus on the rational design of mesostructured carbon-based and metal oxide electrodes for supercapacitors, lithium-ion batteries, and lithium-air batteries. Invited for the cover of this issue is the group of Qiang Wu and Zheng Hu at Nanjing University.T he image depicts sulfur and nitrogen codoped carbon tubesasbifunctional metal-freeelectrocatalysts for oxygen reduction and hydrogen evolution in acidic media. Read the full text of the article at

A review of nanocarbons in energy electrocatalysis: Multifunctional substrates and highly active sites

“…12 (d)) [223] . Furthermore, the rational design of multi-heteroatom doped nanocarbon materials not only enhances the catalytic activities, but also introduces multifunctional performances, such as N,P dual-doped carbon network [194] and N,S dual-doped carbon tubes [224] with extraordinary activity for ORR and good activity for HER, as well as N,P,F tri-doped graphene [225] and N,S dual-doped porous graphitic sheets [226] as trifunctional catalysts for ORR, OER, and HER.…”

B, N Codoped and Defect‐Rich Nanocarbon Material as a Metal‐Free Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction and Evolution Reactions

“…Since then, heteroatom dopants, such as N,9, 12, 13 B,14, 15 P,16, 17 and S,18, 19, 20 have been widely incorporated into nanocarbon materials to improve their electrocatalytic activities. The inherent differences in the electronegativity and atomic size between carbon and these heteroatoms could modify the inherent electronic structures of nanocarbon materials, thereby creating new catalytic sites and facilitating the chemisorption/desorption of intermediates and thus enhancing the catalytic activities 9, 13, 14, 17, 21, 22.…”

Molybdenum Carbide Nanoparticles Coated into the Graphene Wrapping N‐Doped Porous Carbon Microspheres for Highly Efficient Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Both in Acidic and Alkaline Media

“…Although the Pt‐based materials have been proven to be the most efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the high cost, limited supply, and poor durability hinder their global‐scale application 3, 4. Therefore, much effort has been dedicated to develop robust nonnoble‐metal HER catalysts,5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 such as cobalt‐, nickel‐, iron‐, tungsten‐, and molybdenum‐based materials.…”