Activating Titanium Metal with H2 Plasma for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
Tianzhu Zhang1, Jiliang Wu1, Jinfan Chen1
1Science and Technology on Surface Physics and Chemistry Laboratory, Jiangyou 621908, China.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
|May 19, 2021
Summary
Researchers developed a new method using hydrogen plasma to enhance titanium
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Catalysis
Background:
- Developing efficient nonprecious metal electrocatalysts is crucial for large-scale electrochemical hydrogen production.
- Titanium (Ti) metal requires activation for effective hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysis in alkaline media.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a facile and scalable strategy to activate titanium metal for enhanced HER performance.
- To investigate the mechanism of hydrogen incorporation into titanium for improved catalytic activity and durability.
Main Methods:
- Hydrogen plasma bombardment to incorporate hydrogen into the α-Ti crystal lattice.
- Electrochemical characterization to evaluate HER activity and durability.
- Density functional theory (DFT) calculations to understand the electronic structure modifications.
Main Results:
- H2 plasma treatment significantly enhanced the HER activity of titanium, reducing overpotential by 276 mV at -10 mA cm-2.
- The enhanced performance is attributed to accelerated charge transfer and an enlarged electrochemical surface area.
- Incorporated hydrogen atoms remained stable in the Ti lattice during HER, ensuring catalyst durability.
- DFT calculations confirmed that hydrogen incorporation tunes adsorption energies through charge redistribution.
Conclusions:
- A novel and scalable method using H2 plasma treatment effectively activates titanium for HER catalysis.
- Hydrogen incorporation into the Ti crystal lattice is a promising strategy for developing high-performance, durable electrocatalysts for water splitting.
- This approach offers a new route to tune metal electronic structures for various catalytic applications.
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