Nanofiber electrocatalyst
A nanofibrous catalyst for in the electrolyzer and methods of making the catalyst. The catalysts are composed of highly porous transition metal carbonitrides, metal oxides or perovskites derived from the metal-organic frameworks and integrated into a 3D porous nano-network electrode architecture. The catalysts are low-cost, highly active toward OER, with excellent conductivity yet resistant to the oxidation under high potential operable under both acidic and alkaline environments.
1. A nanofiber catalyst comprising:
a transition metal carbonitride fibrous material comprising:
a plurality of pores; and
a bimetallic or trimetallic transition metal carbonitride comprising transition metal carbonitride particles, the transition metal carbonitride particles being fused together in a nanofibrous network,
wherein the catalyst has a specific surface area of 100 m 2 /gram to 1000 m 2 /gram.
2. The nanofiber catalyst of claim 1 , wherein at least 80% of the plurality of pores have an average pore diameter of less than 2 nm.
3. The nanofiber catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the transition metal carbonitride particles are connected with interconnected structures extending between uniformly distributed catalytic sites.
4. The nanofiber catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of pores has a porous nano-network catalyst network morphology.
5. The nanofiber catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst has a specific surface area of 750 m 2 /gram to 1000 m 2 /gram.
6. The nanofiber catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the transition metal carbonitride particles are fused together via electrospinning.
7. The nanofiber catalyst of claim 6 , wherein the transition metal carbonitride particles are further fused together with pyrolysis.
8. The nanofiber catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the transition metal carbonitride fibrous material has a metal oxide framework (MOF) morphology.