US 10,811,691 B2Granted

Electrocatalysts on carbonitride matrices

AssigneeBreton SPA

InventorsVito Di Noto, Enrico Negro, Keti Vezzu′, Federico Bertasi, Graeme Nawn, Luca Toncelli, Stefano Zeggio, Fabio Bassetto

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Abstract

The invention relates to electrocatalysts comprising a carbonitride (CN) shell featuring good electrical conductivity, coordinating suitable catalytically active sites. In a preferred aspect of the invention, the aforesaid carbonitride shell coordinates nanoparticles or aggregates of nanoparticles, on which the active sites of the electrocatalyst are located. In a preferred form of the invention, said carbonitride shell covers suitable cores with good electrical conductivity. Said electrocatalysts are obtained through a process involving the pyrolysis of suitable precursors; in one aspect of the invention, the preparation process requires certain further steps. In one preferred aspect, the steps comprise one or more of the following: chemical treatments; electrochemical treatments; further pyrolysis processes.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A method for making an electrocatalyst which comprises the steps of (i) preparing a precursor, (ii) adsorbing the precursor on a surface of conducting support particles to obtain a core-shell system, wherein said conducting support particles are one or more metallic elements;

(iii) applying a thermal treatment to the thus-obtained core-shell system to obtain a core-shell electrocatalyst and (iv) activating the thus-obtained core-shell electrocatalyst, characterized in that said core-shell electrocatalyst is activated electrochemically, wherein said electrochemical activation is achieved by applying an electrochemical potential characterized in that at least one cycle of increasing and decreasing electrochemical potential is applied, and wherein said electrochemical potential increases linearly from values comprised between minimum −1 to maximum 2 V vs. RHE and decreases linearly from values comprised between maximum 2 to minimum −1 V vs. RHE, wherein the electrochemical potential is selected based on the one or more metallic elements of the conducting support particles so as to increase electrochemical performance of the core-shell electrocatalyst.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/760,358Filed 26 Sep 2016
Priority: IT 10201500005560328 Sep 2015
Published: US 2018/0254488 A16 Sep 2018
Granted: 20 Oct 2020
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification24 codes

H01M 4/8652
Consisting of more than one material, e.g. consisting of composites: as mixture
B01J 21/18
Catalysts comprising the elements, oxides, or hydroxides of magnesium, boron, aluminium, carbon, silicon, titanium, zirconium, or hafnium: carbon
B01J 37/04
Processes, in general, for preparing catalysts; Processes, in general, for activation of catalysts: mixing
B01J 37/08
Processes, in general, for preparing catalysts; Processes, in general, for activation of catalysts: heat treatment