Efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen gas evolution by a cobalt-porphyrin-based crystalline polymerElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c8dt00302e

• Main Authors: Wu, Yanyu, Veleta, José M, Tang, Diya, Price, Alex D, Botez, Cristian E, Villagrán, Dino
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 03.07.2018
• ISSN: 1477-9226; 1477-9234
• DOI: 10.1039/c8dt00302e

Herein, we report a crystalline CoTcPP-based [TcPP = the anion of meso -tetra(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin] polymeric system, 1 , as a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalyst in acidic aqueous media. The material was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (p-XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis and its morphology was probed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Polymer 1 shows a surface area of 441.74 m 3 g −1 , while the discrete CoTcPP molecule ( 2 ) shows a surface area of 3.44 m 3 g −1 . The HER catalytic performance was evaluated by means of linear sweep voltammetry in the presence of 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 aqueous solution. To achieve 10 mA cm −2 cathodic current density, 1 and 2 respectively require an overpotential of 0.475 V and 0.666 V, providing strong evidence that the extended network of cobalt-based porphyrin leads to enhanced HER efficiency. The polymer also shows great tolerance for HER electrolysis in the presence of an acid remaining active over 10 hours. Herein, we report a crystalline CoTcPP-based [TcPP = the anion of meso -tetra(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin] polymeric system, 1 , as a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalyst in acidic aqueous media.