Application of plastic-derived carbon@CoMoO4 composites as an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction in water electrolysis

doi:10.11949/0438-1157.20241525

CIESC Journal ›› 2025, Vol. 76 ›› Issue (8): 4081-4094.DOI: 10.11949/0438-1157.20241525

• Catalysis, kinetics and reactors • Previous Articles Next Articles

Application of plastic-derived carbon@CoMoO₄composites as an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction in water electrolysis

Ning YANG¹^,²(), Haonan LI¹, Xiao LIN³(), Stella GEORGIADOU², Wen-Feng LIN²^,⁴^,⁵

^1.College of Energy Resource and Power Engineering, Northeast Electric Power University, Jilin 132012, Jilin, China
^2.Department of Chemical Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, United Kingdom
^3.Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0AS, United Kingdom
^4.Zhejiang Baima Lake Laboratory Co. , Ltd. , Hangzhou 311121, Zhejiang, China
^5.Science and Education Integration College of Energy and Carbon Neutralization, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, Zhejiang, China

Received:2024-12-30 Revised:2025-04-17 Online:2025-09-17 Published:2025-08-25
Contact: Xiao LIN

从塑料废弃物到能源催化剂：塑料衍生碳@CoMoO₄复合材料在电解水析氢反应中的应用

杨宁¹^,²(), 李皓男¹, LIN Xiao³(), GEORGIADOU Stella², LIN Wen-Feng²^,⁴^,⁵

^1.东北电力大学能源与动力工程学院，吉林吉林 132012
^2.拉夫堡大学化学工程系，英国莱斯特郡LE11 3TU
^3.剑桥大学化学工程与生物技术系，英国剑桥郡CB3 0AS
^4.浙江白马湖实验室有限公司，浙江杭州 311121
^5.浙江工业大学能源与碳中和科教融合学院，浙江杭州 310014

通讯作者: LIN Xiao
作者简介:杨宁 (1989—)，男，博士，副教授，1020219438@qq.com
基金资助:
吉林省科技发展计划项目(20250205047GH);国家自然科学基金项目(52006029);吉林省青年科技人才托举工程项目(QT202113);吉林省产业技术研发专项(2019C056-2)

Abstract

Abstract:

Waste plastic mineral-water bottles were converted into nitrogen-doped porous carbon materials using template carbonization and hydrothermal methods, then CoMoO₄ nanoparticles were loaded on the plastic-derived nitrogen-doped carbon (PNAC) to prepare the composite (CoMoO₄@PNAC) materials using hydrothermal and annealing methods, the latter were tested as catalysts for the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in water electrolysis. The synthesized CoMoO₄@PNAC material exhibits good hydrogen evolution catalytic activity in 1 mol/L KOH alkaline electrolyte, requiring only 162 mV overpotential to reach a current density of 10 mA/cm², and exhibits good stability. PNAC provides an efficient electron transfer channel, and its curled nanosheet shape can perturb the electrolyte near the CoMoO₄ nanoparticles, accelerating the mass transport between the electrolyte and the active site and promoting the rapid detachment of the bubble products. DFT calculations show that CoMoO₄@PNAC has a lower ΔG_H* compared to CoMoO₄, and the DOS curves show that the introduction of PNAC fills the density-of-states gap among pure CoMoO₄, realigns the electron distribution, increases the density of states near the Fermi energy level, improves the number of available electrons, and releases the catalytic potential of CoMoO₄ towards HER, all of these leads to a high catalytic performance of CoMoO₄@PNAC.

Key words: CoMoO₄, waste plastic derived carbon, hydrogen production, water electrolysis, electrochemistry, catalyst

摘要：

采用模板碳化和水热法将塑料矿泉水瓶转化为氮掺杂多孔碳材料（PNAC），然后在此基础上利用水热法和退火法成功制备了负载在塑料衍生氮掺杂碳上的CoMoO₄纳米颗粒（CoMoO₄@PNAC）复合材料，并用于电解水析氢催化剂。合成的CoMoO₄@PNAC复合材料在1 mol/L KOH的碱性电解液中表现出良好的析氢催化活性，仅需要162 mV的过电位就可以达到10 mA/cm²的电流密度，并表现出良好的稳定性。PNAC提供了良好的电子转移通道，其卷曲的纳米片形状可以对CoMoO₄纳米颗粒附近的电解液产生扰动，加快电解液与活性位点之间的质量交换，促进气泡产物的快速脱离。DFT计算表明，与CoMoO₄相比，CoMoO₄@PNAC具有更低的ΔG_H*，DOS曲线显示，PNAC的引入填充了纯CoMoO₄之中的态密度间隙，重新调整了电子分布，费米能级附近的态密度增加，提高了可用电子数量，释放出CoMoO₄的析氢催化潜力，进而使得CoMoO₄@PNAC具有良好的析氢催化性能。

关键词: CoMoO₄, 塑料衍生碳, 制氢, 电解水, 电化学, 催化剂

CLC Number:

O 646

Ning YANG, Haonan LI, Xiao LIN, Stella GEORGIADOU, Wen-Feng LIN. Application of plastic-derived carbon@CoMoO₄composites as an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction in water electrolysis[J]. CIESC Journal, 2025, 76(8): 4081-4094.

杨宁, 李皓男, LIN Xiao, GEORGIADOU Stella, LIN Wen-Feng. 从塑料废弃物到能源催化剂：塑料衍生碳@CoMoO₄复合材料在电解水析氢反应中的应用[J]. 化工学报, 2025, 76(8): 4081-4094.

Figures/Tables 14

Fig.1 Schematic illustration of the preparation process for CoMoO4@PNAC

Fig.2 XRD pattens (a) and Raman spectrum (b) of PNAC sample

Fig.3 SEM images of PNAC [(a),(b)]; EDS images of PNAC [(c)-(f)]

Fig.4 XRD pattens of CoMoO4@PNAC (a); Raman spectra of CoMoO4@PNAC sample [(b),(c)]

Fig.5 SEM images of CoMoO4@PNAC[(a)，(b)]; TEM images of CoMoO4@PNAC [(c)，(d)]

Fig.6 EDS images of CoMoO4@PNAC

Fig.7 Survey XPS spectra (a) and high-resolution XPS spectra of C 1s,N 1s,O 1s,Co 2p,Mo 3d [(b)—(f)] of CoMoO4@PNAC

Fig.8 Nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm (a) and the corresponding pore size distribution curve (b) obtained on CoMoO4@PNAC

Fig.9 Electrochemical measurements of the as-prepared samples for hydrogen evolution reaction in 1 mol/L KOH aqueous solution: (a) polarization curves; (b) overpotential; (c) EIS curves; (d) Tafel plots

Table 1 Partial studies on CoMoO4-based catalysts

催化剂	电解液	η₁₀/mV	Tafel斜率/(mV/dec)	文献
CMO _x CNT	1 mol/L KOH	171	69.9	[35]
CoP@CoMoO₄ HNTs	1 mol/L KOH	120	34	[36]
CoMoO₄/N, S co-doped carbon	1 mol/L KOH	89	32	[40]
Co_0.5Zn_0.5MoO₄	1 mol/L KOH	204	162.7	[41]
N,S-NCO@CMO	1 mol/L KOH	100	64	[42]
CoMoO₄@PNAC	1 mol/L KOH	162	130.66	本工作

Fig.10 CV curve obtained on CoMoO4@PNAC (a); Cdl of the sample (b); ECSA of CoMoO4, PNAC and CoMoO4@PNAC (c); Normalized HER polarization curve (d)

Fig.11 The i-t curves obtained on CoMoO4@PNAC in 1 mol/L KOH (a) and polarization curves obtained before and after 1000 CV cycles (b)

Fig.12 Models of the structures for the adsorption on the sample surface (a); hydrogen adsorption free energy (b); DOS curve (c)

Fig.13 Schematic diagram of the HER enhancement mechanism on CoMoO4@PNAC

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Application of plastic-derived carbon@CoMoO₄composites as an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction in water electrolysis

从塑料废弃物到能源催化剂：塑料衍生碳@CoMoO₄复合材料在电解水析氢反应中的应用

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