Submicron Co₉S₈/CoS/Carbon Spheres Derived from Bacteria for the Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

Synthesizing non‐noble metal electrocatalysts with both high activity and high stability for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of great significance in the fuel cell and metal‐air battery industries. Herein, a facile method is explored to fabricate submicron Co9S8/CoS/C spheres by using Streptococcus thermophiles as a template. The electrocatalytic activity for the ORR with an onset and half‐wave potential of 0.87 and 0.79 V, respectively, vs. RHE approaches that of commercial Pt/C catalyst. The durability and methanol tolerance are better than those of the commercial catalyst. The good performance could be attributed to the coupling effect between Co9S8/CoS and the bio‐carbon substrate, as well as the robust submicron sphere morphology. Benefiting from the structural diversity of bacteria, this method can be extended to the synthesis of sulfide catalysts with other elaborate architectures.

Fabrication of MoS2‐Decorated Nickel‐Cobalt Bimetal Phosphide Nanocubes as Efficient Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution

“…The measured Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller (BET) value (76.1 m 2 g −1 ) is higher than 12.6 m 2 g −1 for the NiCoP‐350 substrate, which is mainly ascribed to the loose structure of NiCoP‐350, as well as extra BET contribution originated from numerous voids between cores and shells in the hybrid as confirmed by TEM images discussed above. The hierarchical mesoporous structure for NiCoP‐350@MoS 2 might afford abundant active sites and facilitate the fast transport of electron and active species . Stability is another important factor to evaluate the catalytic activity.…”

Facile synthesis of mesoporous NixCo9−xS8 hollow spheres for high-performance supercapacitors and aqueous Ni/Co–Zn batteries

“…27 Guo et al using bacteria as template via hydrothermal and further calcination process to fabricate porous Co 9 S 8 /CoS/C submicronspheres. 28 Thus a facile one-step method to prepare Co 9 S 8 porous spheres especially mesoporous hollow architecture is appreciated.…”

Bacteria‐Assisted Synthesis of Fe‐Co‐Ni‐S/Hollow Carbon Spheres as High‐Performance Supercapacitor Electrode Materials

“…Microorganisms in nature possess a big variety of structures in micro/nano‐scale, which provide important inspiration for material design [21] . Herein, we chose streptococcus thermophilus , a kind of lactic acid bacteria with submicron spherical structure, as prototype template to synthesize biomorphic composite as supercapacitor electrode materials.…”

“…Microorganisms in nature possess a big variety of structures in micro/nano-scale, which provide important inspiration for material design. [21] Herein, we chose streptococcus thermophilus, a kind of lactic acid bacteria with submicron spherical structure, as prototype template to synthesize biomorphic composite as supercapacitor electrode materials. Specifically, pyrrole was used as carbon source to adsorb and polymerize on bacterium cells followed by pyrolysis to obtain hollow carbon submicron spheres (HCSS).…”