Efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution on atomically dispersed Ni-NxSpecies anchored porous carbon with embedded Ni nanoparticles by accelerating water dissociation kinetics

Lei C, Wang Y, Hou Y, Liu P, Yang J, Zhang T, Zhuang X, Chen M, Yang B, Lei L, Yuan C, Qiu M, Feng X (2019)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2019

Journal

Energy and Environmental Science Royal Society of Chemistry

Book Volume: 12

Pages Range: 149-156

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1039/c8ee01841c

Abstract

Developing inexpensive and efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) during alkaline water electrolysis is crucial for renewable and sustainable energy harvesting. Herein, we report a novel hybrid electrocatalyst comprising atomically dispersed Ni-N x species anchored porous carbon (Ni-N-C) matrix with embedded Ni nanoparticles for HER. This new catalyst is synthesized via pyrolysis of hydrothermally prepared supermolecular composite of dicyandiamide and Ni ions followed by an acid etching treatment. The achieved hybrid exhibits superior catalytic performance toward HER with a small overpotential of 147 mV at 10 mA cm -2 and a low Tafel slope of 114 mV dec -1 , comparable to those of state-of-the-art heteroatom-doped nanocarbon catalysts and even outperforming other reported transition-metal-based compounds in basic media. Experimental observations and theoretical calculations reveal that the presence of Ni nanoparticles can optimize surface states of Ni-N x active centers and reduce energy barriers of dissociated water molecules, which synergistically improve OH - adsorption and promote HER kinetics. When served as electrodes for both cathode and anode, an alkaline water electrolyzer could afford a current density of 10 mA cm -2 at a low cell voltage of 1.58 V, rivalling the sufficiently high overpotentials of integrated Pt/C-Ir/C benchmark electrodes.

Involved external institutions

Zhejiang University CN China (CN) Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) / 中国科学院 CN China (CN) Tohoku University JP Japan (JP) Technische Universität Dresden DE Germany (DE) Case Western Reserve University US United States (USA) (US) Central China Normal University (CCNU) / Huazhong Normal University / 华中师范大学 CN China (CN)

How to cite

APA:

Lei, C., Wang, Y., Hou, Y., Liu, P., Yang, J., Zhang, T.,... Feng, X. (2019). Efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution on atomically dispersed Ni-NxSpecies anchored porous carbon with embedded Ni nanoparticles by accelerating water dissociation kinetics. Energy and Environmental Science, 12(1), 149-156. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ee01841c

MLA:

Lei, Chaojun, et al. "Efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution on atomically dispersed Ni-NxSpecies anchored porous carbon with embedded Ni nanoparticles by accelerating water dissociation kinetics." Energy and Environmental Science 12.1 (2019): 149-156.

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