Designing Efficient Non-Precious Metal Electrocatalysts for High-Performance Hydrogen Production: A Comprehensive...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Catalysis

Background:

• Reducing the cost of green hydrogen production is essential.
• Developing abundant, Earth-element, and high-efficiency electrocatalysts is crucial for efficient hydrogen generation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a strategy for evaluating electrocatalyst performance in hydrogen evolution.
• To design and identify novel, high-performance electrocatalysts for water and seawater electrolysis.

Main Methods:

• Computational chemical indicators for H* adsorption/desorption and dehydrogenation kinetics were used to guide catalyst design.
• Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations and experimental chemistry were employed.
• A dual transition metal doping strategy was utilized to construct catalysts.

Main Results:

• Cobalt-vanadium co-doped Ni3N (Co,V-Ni3N) was identified as an ideal electrocatalyst for hydrogen production.
• Co,V-Ni3N achieved a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at low overpotentials (10 mV in alkaline electrolytes, 41 mV in alkaline seawater).
• The catalyst demonstrated stable operation at a high current density of 500 mA cm−2.

Conclusions:

• The proposed evaluation strategy is effective for designing high-performance electrocatalysts.
• Co,V-Ni3N is a highly efficient non-precious metal electrocatalyst for water and seawater electrolysis.
• The strategy shows universality, applicable to single-metal-doped Ni3N catalysts.