Highly porous non-precious bimetallic electrocatalysts for efficient hydrogen evolution

Qi Lu; Gregory S. Hutchings; Weiting Yu; Yang Zhou; Robert V. Forest; Runzhe Tao; Jonathan Rosen; Bryan T. Yonemoto; Zeyuan Cao; Haimei Zheng; John Q. Xiao; Feng Jiao; Jingguang G. Chen

doi:10.1038/ncomms7567

journal article Open Access Mar 16, 2015

Highly porous non-precious bimetallic electrocatalysts for efficient hydrogen evolution

Qi Lu

Gregory S. Hutchings

Weiting Yu Yang Zhou

Robert V. Forest Runzhe Tao Jonathan Rosen Bryan T. Yonemoto Zeyuan Cao Haimei Zheng

John Q. Xiao Feng Jiao

Jingguang G. Chen

Nature Communications Vol. 6 No. 1 · Springer Science and Business Media LLC

View at Publisher Save 10.1038/ncomms7567

Abstract

AbstractA robust and efficient non-precious metal catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction is one of the key components for carbon dioxide-free hydrogen production. Here we report that a hierarchical nanoporous copper-titanium bimetallic electrocatalyst is able to produce hydrogen from water under a mild overpotential at more than twice the rate of state-of-the-art carbon-supported platinum catalyst. Although both copper and titanium are known to be poor hydrogen evolution catalysts, the combination of these two elements creates unique copper-copper-titanium hollow sites, which have a hydrogen-binding energy very similar to that of platinum, resulting in an exceptional hydrogen evolution activity. In addition, the hierarchical porosity of the nanoporous copper-titanium catalyst also contributes to its high hydrogen evolution activity, because it provides a large-surface area for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution, and improves the mass transport properties. Moreover, the catalyst is self-supported, eliminating the overpotential associated with the catalyst/support interface.

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Details

Published: Mar 16, 2015
Vol/Issue: 6(1)
License: View

Authors

Nanjing University of Finance and Economics

Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States

School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

J

Jingguang G. Chen

Cite This Article

Qi Lu, Gregory S. Hutchings, Weiting Yu, et al. (2015). Highly porous non-precious bimetallic electrocatalysts for efficient hydrogen evolution. Nature Communications, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7567

Highly porous non-precious bimetallic electrocatalysts for efficient hydrogen evolution

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