Efficient hydrogen production on MoNi4 electrocatalysts with fast water dissociation kinetics
Abstract Various platinum-free electrocatalysts have been explored for hydrogen evolution reaction in acidic solutions. However, in economical water-alkali electrolysers, sluggish water dissociation kinetics (Volmer step) on platinum-free electrocatalysts results in poor hydrogen-production activiti...
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Published in | Nature communications Vol. 8; no. 1; p. 15437 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
London
Nature Publishing Group
17.05.2017
Nature Portfolio |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Abstract
Various platinum-free electrocatalysts have been explored for hydrogen evolution reaction in acidic solutions. However, in economical water-alkali electrolysers, sluggish water dissociation kinetics (Volmer step) on platinum-free electrocatalysts results in poor hydrogen-production activities. Here we report a MoNi
4
electrocatalyst supported by MoO
2
cuboids on nickel foam (MoNi
4
/MoO
2
@Ni), which is constructed by controlling the outward diffusion of nickel atoms on annealing precursor NiMoO
4
cuboids on nickel foam. Experimental and theoretical results confirm that a rapid Tafel-step-decided hydrogen evolution proceeds on MoNi
4
electrocatalyst. As a result, the MoNi
4
electrocatalyst exhibits zero onset overpotential, an overpotential of 15 mV at 10 mA cm
−2
and a low Tafel slope of 30 mV per decade in 1 M potassium hydroxide electrolyte, which are comparable to the results for platinum and superior to those for state-of-the-art platinum-free electrocatalysts. Benefiting from its scalable preparation and stability, the MoNi
4
electrocatalyst is promising for practical water-alkali electrolysers. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 PMCID: PMC5442356 |
ISSN: | 2041-1723 2041-1723 |
DOI: | 10.1038/ncomms15437 |