Preparation of CoFe2O4-Doped TiO2 Nanofibers by Electrospinning and Annealing for Oxygen Electrocatalysis

Xiaoting Xu; Ruifan Xi; Yuanyuan Li; Ping Wang; Yan Zhang; Dongmei Hu

doi:10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c00375

Preparation of CoFe₂O₄-Doped TiO₂ Nanofibers by Electrospinning and Annealing for Oxygen Electrocatalysis

Langmuir. 2023 May 2;39(17):6211-6221. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c00375. Epub 2023 Apr 20.

Authors

Xiaoting Xu^{1

2}, Ruifan Xi^{1

2}, Yuanyuan Li^{1

2}, Ping Wang^{1

2}, Yan Zhang^{1

2}, Dongmei Hu³

Affiliations

¹ National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215127, China.
² Jiangsu Advanced Textile Engineering Technology Center, Nantong 226007, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Multifunctional and Smart Systems, Division of Advanced Materials, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China.

PMID: 37079763
DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c00375

Abstract

In this paper, catalyst precursor fibers were prepared by a sol gel method combined with an electrospinning method using tetrabutyl titanate as a titanium source, cobalt acetylacetonate as a cobalt source, and iron acetylacetonate as an iron source. CoFe@TiO₂ nanofibers (NFs) with a bimetallic spinel structure were formed after thermal annealing, which have dual-functional catalytic activity. With the molar ratio of Co and Fe coming to 1:1, a typical spinel CoFe₂O₄ structure was generated in Co₁Fe₁@TiO₂ NFs. At a load of only 28.7 μg·cm^-2, Co₁Fe₁@TiO₂ NFs not only have a low overpotential (284 mV) and Tafel slope (54 mV·dec^-1) in the oxygen evolution reaction but also show a high initial potential (0.88 V) and limiting current density (6.40 mA·cm^-2) in the oxygen reduction reaction. Meanwhile, Co₁Fe₁@TiO₂ NFs exhibit good durability, cycle stability, and dual-function catalysis.