Synthesis and characterization of Cu single atoms immobilized on Ti3C2Tx MXene catalyst

Synthesis and characterization of Cu single atoms immobilized on Ti3C2Tx MXene catalyst

• Autor
• Rafael Kenji Nishihora
• Co-autores
• Mathilde Champeau , Maykon L. Souza , Fabio H. B. Lima , Sydney Ferreira Santos
• Resumo

• Electrochemical reactions for clean and sustainable energy production have received a lot of attention recently. Novel electrocatalytic materials play an essential role to improve the performance of electrochemical devices for energy production. In this context, single-atom catalysts (SACs) emerge as promising candidates in several electrochemical reactions. In this study, a titanium carbide (Ti3C2Tx) MXene is used as a substrate for a Cu single-atom catalyst, which may be suited for electrochemical reactions of interest in clean energy production such as hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) and CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). The 2D MXene compound was synthesized based on the MILD approach, in which  3D MAX phase precursor (Ti3AlC2, 0.5 g) is etched using in-situ generated HF by a mixture of LiF (0.8 g) and HCl (10 mL, 9 M) [1]. The approach developed by Qi and colleagues [2] was used for the synthesis of the supported single Cu atom catalyst. In summary, the Cu SACs were prepared by the supercritical fluid deposition (SCFD) system using CO2. In detail, 2 mg Cupric (II) acetylacetonate precursor and a magnetic stir bar were placed in the bottom of the reactor. And then the MXene supports (200 mg) were put in the reactor. After this, 20 MPa of CO2 was fed into the reaction vessel and heated up to 50 °C. Finally, Cu-SACs were obtained by quickly removing CO2 within 30 min after the solution was continuously stirred for 12 h at 50 °C and 20 MPa. The prepared catalyst was characterized by its morphology, composition, and electrocatalytic activity under standard conditions. The electrochemical performance of this novel electrocatalyst was correlated with the structural and morphological features.

  Acknowledgments

  We thank FAPESP (Grants 2019/22183-6 and 2020/15632-6), CNPq (Grant 310984/2020-3) for the financial support, and the Multiuser Central Facilities (CEM at UFABC) for the experimental support.

  Reference

  [1] M. Alhabeb et al., Chem. Mater. 29, p 7633–7644 (2017). 

  [2] Jian-Lei Q et al., J Supercrit Fluids 171, p 105202 (2021).

• Palavras-chave
• MXene, Electrocatalyst, Single-atom, 2D material
• Modalidade
• Pôster
• Área Temática
• Nanociências & Nanotecnologia