Magnetic heating enhancement for oxygen evolution reaction on confined CoSe2 nanoparticles by alternating magnetic field

Abstract

Localized magnetic heating in magnetic nanoparticles caused by an alternating magnetic field (AMF) can facilitate electrocatalytic reactions, which has become an emerging strategy to further enhance overall efficiency of catalysts and frontier in an electrocatalysis field. However, the investigation of AMF-assisted electrocatalysis is still in its infancy, and how to efficiently utilize magnetic heating in magnetic nanoparticles to boost electrocatalysis reactions is in great demand. In this work, a feasible design is proposed by using Néel relaxation, efficient local heating generated in superparamagnetic CoSe2 nanoparticles confined in an amorphous carbon matrix by AMF leading to improved catalytic performance. The rapid oxygen evolution reaction enhancement of CoSe2 nanoparticles responses to switched on/off AMF, indicating that the localized magnetic heating is generated in catalysts by Néel relaxation with magnetic moments of nanoparticles rapidly flipping under AMF. Our work inspires insight to design AMF-assisted electrocatalysts and inject power into the field of electrocatalysis.