Abstract

Highlights

  • A promising solar-powered environmentally friendly process for the synthesis and application of catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction has been proposed.

  • A delicate NiCo(OH)x-CoyW catalyst with a bush-like heterostructure was realized via gas-template-assisted electrodeposition, followed by electrochemical etching process.

  • The excellent catalytic effect of NiCo(OH)x-CoyW for the hydrogen evolution reaction was systematically investigated through various physical and electrochemical analyses.

To achieve high efficiency of water electrolysis to produce hydrogen (H2), developing non-noble metal-based catalysts with considerable performance have been considered as a crucial strategy, which is correlated with both the interphase properties and multi-metal synergistic effects. Herein, as a proof of concept, a delicate NiCo(OH)x-CoyW catalyst with a bush-like heterostructure was realized via gas-template-assisted electrodeposition, followed by an electrochemical etching-growth process, which ensured a high active area and fast gas release kinetics for a superior hydrogen evolution reaction, with an overpotential of 21 and 139 mV at 10 and 500 mA cm−2, respectively. Physical and electrochemical analyses demonstrated that the synergistic effect of the NiCo(OH)x/CoyW heterogeneous interface resulted in favorable electron redistribution and faster electron transfer efficiency. The amorphous NiCo(OH)x strengthened the water dissociation step, and metal phase of CoW provided sufficient sites for moderate H immediate adsorption/H2 desorption. In addition, NiCo(OH)x-CoyW exhibited desirable urea oxidation reaction activity for matching H2 generation with a low voltage of 1.51 V at 50 mA cm−2. More importantly, the synthesis and testing of the NiCo(OH)x-CoyW catalyst in this study were all solar-powered, suggesting a promising environmentally friendly process for practical applications.

Details

Title
Synergistic Interfacial and Doping Engineering of Heterostructured NiCo(OH)x-CoyW as an Efficient Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Electrocatalyst
Author
Li, Ruopeng 1 ; Xu, Hao 1 ; Yang Peixia 1 ; Wang, Dan 1 ; Li, Yun 1 ; Xiao Lihui 1 ; Lu, Xiangyu 1 ; Wang, Bo 1 ; Zhang Jinqiu 1 ; An Maozhong 1 

 Harbin Institute of Technology, MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin, People’s Republic of China (GRID:grid.19373.3f) (ISNI:0000 0001 0193 3564) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
Jan 2021
Publisher
Springer Nature B.V.
ISSN
23116706
e-ISSN
21505551
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2619577616
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.