Ni₆₀Nb₄₀ Nanoglass for Tunable Magnetism and Methanol Oxidation

Abstract

Local control in microstructure in nanocrystalline solid materials emerges from their property and reactivity. Similar observation is also seen for nanostructured glassy alloys accounting for enhanced properties of nanoglass compared to their metallic glass analogue. Here, we show synthesis and detailed microstructural characterization of a Ni 60 Nb 40 nanoglass starting from amorphous nanoparticles and compared the results with a melt-spun ribbon (MSR) of identical atomic composition. The effect on the magnetic property during the consolidation of glassy nanoparticles at different uniaxial pressures to create such nanoglass is studied in detail. While nanoglass showed ferromagnetic behavior at every compaction pressure, the MSR always remained paramagnetic although its density was comparable. Not only that the amorphous phase of these two materials behaves differently, when annealed above their crystallization temperature, annealed nanoglass responded distinctly differently compared to the MSR confirming non-identical local structure even after heat treatment. Taking advantage of the presence of amorphous nickel, the enhanced response of the glassy interface in the nanoglass, we tested these materials for the electrochemical methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) in alkaline medium and found that the nanoglass offers reasonably high MOR capacity compared to the MSR. The structure−property correlation in the context of energy application using such nanoglass materials is tested for the first time.

Constructing amorphous/amorphous heterointerfaces in nickel borate/boride composites for efficient electrocatalytic methanol oxidation

“…[8][9][10][11] Even so, limited by their slow charge transfer, deficient active sites and poor intrinsic catalytic activity, the electrocatalytic MOR performance of these materials is still far behind what we expect and needs significant promotion so as to catch up with the requirement of the commercial application of DMFCs. [12][13][14] As reported recently, heterointerface engineering, especially for constructing heterostructures based on ultrathin twodimensional (2D) nanomaterials, has attracted considerable attention in the electrochemical field owing to the impressive synergetic effects between ultrathin 2D structures and atomiclevel coupled interactions of different components on electrocatalysis, which can not only allow for more exposed heterojunctions as catalytically active centres on the surface of catalysts, but also appreciably modulate the surface charge distribution for optimizing the reaction kinetics, as a consequence, dramatically improving the catalytic performance of electrocatalysts. [15][16][17][18][19][20] To date, relevant research studies have mainly concentrated on crystalline/crystalline heterostructures by virtue of their well-defined heterointerfaces along with available synthetic strategies and structural characterization methods.…”

“…8–11 Even so, limited by their slow charge transfer, deficient active sites and poor intrinsic catalytic activity, the electrocatalytic MOR performance of these materials is still far behind what we expect and needs significant promotion so as to catch up with the requirement of the commercial application of DMFCs. 12–14…”

Design of earth‐abundant amorphous transition metal‐based catalysts for electrooxidation of small molecules: Advances and perspectives

“…Amorphous TM alloys are highly efficient ESM catalysts due to their high conductivity and the synergistic combination of electroactive metals, as well as rich active sites. 24,71 Co, Ni, and Fe-based amorphous alloys are widely explored ESM electrocatalysts, and current studies mainly focus on nanostructure design and heterostructure construction.…”

The effects of glass–glass interfaces on thermodynamic and mechanical properties of Co–Fe–P metallic nano-glasses

“…Recently, two-dimensional defects, specifically defined as glass-glass interfaces (GGIs) that separate glassy nano-sized grains or MG blocks, have been introduced into MGs [4][5][6][7], resulting in a different kind of nanomaterials called metallic nano-glasses (NGs) [8], and a new approach in modifying the properties of MGs. The GGIs can enable NGs with electronic [9], mechanical [10][11][12][13], and magnetic [14][15][16][17][18] properties much different with those of conventional MGs. Based on Mossbauer spectroscopy measurements, Ghafari et al [9] found that the contribution of itinerant electrons at GGIs to magnetic moments is higher than those in conventional MGs.…”