Selectively Growing a Highly Active Interface of Mixed Nb-Rh Oxide/2D Carbon for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Production.

ABSTRACT: Tailorable electron distribution of the active sites is widely regarded as the key issue to boost the catalytic activity and provide mechanistic insights into the structure-property-performance relationship. Here, a selective metal atom in situ growth strategy to construct highly active interface of mixed metal atom with different Nb_y RhO_x species on sp-/sp² -cohybridized graphdiyne (Nb_y RhO_x /GDY) is reported. With this innovative idea implemented, experimental results show that the asymmetric electron distribution and the variation of coordination environment of bimetallic species significantly improve the electrocatalytic activity of Nb_y RhO_x /GDY. Optimal hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity is achieved at the Nb/Rh ratio of 0.23, exhibiting excellent HER activity with the small overpotentials of 14 and 10 mV at 10 mA cm^-2 in alkaline and neutral electrolytes. The data show the strong potential for real-system application of such catalysts, which outperform commercial Pt/C (20 wt%). These results shown in this study represent a platform for designing novel catalytic materials by selectively introducing metal atoms on different supports, which can be used as a general method extended to other catalytic systems.

SUBMITTER: Gao Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8981907 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature