Water Electrolysis Beyond Platinum: Carbon Nitride Materials for Electrochemical Hydrogen Evolution

A facile approach is presented for the scalable generation of porous, ultralong carbon nitride nanoscrolls as electrocatalysts for electrochemical hydrogen storage and evolution. Activation of C₃N₄ by subpotential reduction reveals a new material that stores and finally evolves hydrogen, with a performance being superior to Platinum. The optimized system displays an overpotential (η₁₀ = 7 mV) close to commercial Pt/C but provides a superior current density (up to ≈1.3 A cm^-2), turnover frequency, HER rate, and higher stability. Additionally, at underpotential conditions, ≈1.5 wt.% activated hydrogen can be stored at ambient pressure and room temperature in such materials.