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Protein Film Infrared Electrochemistry Demonstrated for Study of H2 Oxidation by a [NiFe] Hydrogenase
Published on: December 4, 2017
OH spectator at IrMo intermetallic narrowing activity gap between alkaline and acidic hydrogen evolution reaction
Jiaxi Zhang1, Longhai Zhang1, Jiamin Liu1
1Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Fuel Cell Technology, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510641, China.
Abstract:
The sluggish kinetics of the hydrogen evolution reaction in base has resulted in large activity gap between acidic and alkaline electrolytes. Here, we present an intermetallic IrMo electrocatalyst supported on carbon nanotubes that exhibits a specific activity of 0.95 mA cm-2 at the overpotential of 15 mV, which is 14.4 and 9.5 times of those for Ir/C and Pt/C, respectively. More importantly, its activities in base are fairly close to that in acidic electrolyte and the activity gap between acidic and alkaline media is only one fourth of that for Ir/C. DFT calculations reveal that the stably-adsorbed OH spectator at Mo site of IrMo can stabilize the water dissociation product, resulting in a thermodynamically favorable water dissociation process. Beyond offering an advanced electrocatalyst, this work provides a guidance to rationally design the desirable HER electrocatalysts for alkaline water splitting by the stably-adsorbed OH spectator.
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