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Title: Design principles for hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst materials

Journal Article · · Nano Energy

Design and synthesis of active, stable and cost-effective materials for efficient hydrogen production (hydrogen evolution reaction, HER) is of paramount importance for the successful deployment of hydrogen -based alternative energy technologies. The HER, seemingly one of the simplest electrochemical reactions, has served for decades to bridge the gap between fundamental electrocatalysis and practical catalyst design. However, there are still many open questions that need to be answered before it would be possible to claim that design principles of catalyst materials are fully developed for the efficient hydrogen production. Here in this review, by summarizing key results for the HER on well-characterized electrochemical interfaces in acidic and alkaline media, we have broadened our understanding of the HER in the whole range of pH by considering three main parameters: the nature of the proton donor (H3O+ in acid and H2O in alkaline), the energy of adsorption of Had and OHad, and the presence of spectator species. Simply by considering these three parameters we show that great deal has already been learned and new trends are beginning to emerge, giving some predictive ability with respect to the nature of electrochemical interface and electrocatalytic activity of the HER.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; AC02–06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1352610
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1397359
Journal Information:
Nano Energy, Vol. 29, Issue C; ISSN 2211-2855
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 566 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Electrochemical Fabrication of Porous Au Film on Ni Foam for Nitrogen Reduction to Ammonia journal January 2019
Sub-1.5 nm Ultrathin CoP Nanosheet Aerogel: Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction at All pH Values journal September 2018
Benchmarking the Activity, Stability, and Inherent Electrochemistry of Amorphous Molybdenum Sulfide for Hydrogen Production journal January 2019
CoSe 2 /MoSe 2 Heterostructures with Enriched Water Adsorption/Dissociation Sites towards Enhanced Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction journal June 2018
Size-Effect on Electrochemical Hydrogen Evolution Reaction by Single-Size Platinum Nanocluster Catalysts Immobilized on Strontium Titanate journal January 2018
Multi-site electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution in neutral media by destabilization of water molecules journal December 2018
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Synergistic effect of nano-Pt and Ni spine for HER in alkaline solution: hydrogen spillover from nano-Pt to Ni spine journal February 2018
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Hierarchical microsphere assembled by nanoplates embedded with MoS 2 and (NiFe)S x nanoparticles as low-cost electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction journal October 2019
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Towards Versatile and Sustainable Hydrogen Production through Electrocatalytic Water Splitting: Electrolyte Engineering journal March 2017
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A robust self-stabilized electrode based on Al-based metallic glasses for a highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction journal January 2020
Promoting Subordinate, Efficient Ruthenium Sites with Interstitial Silicon for Pt‐Like Electrocatalytic Activity journal July 2019
Theory-guided design of catalytic materials using scaling relationships and reactivity descriptors journal November 2019
Breaking the volcano-plot limits for Pt-based electrocatalysts by selective tuning adsorption of multiple intermediates journal January 2019
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Hierarchical nanoporous intermetallic compounds with self-grown transition-metal hydroxides as bifunctional catalysts for the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction journal January 2019
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Catalytic Surface Specificity of Ni(OH) 2 ‐Decorated Pt Nanocubes for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in an Alkaline Electrolyte journal August 2019
A Co–Mo 2 N composite on a nitrogen-doped carbon matrix with hydrogen evolution activity comparable to that of Pt/C in alkaline media journal January 2019
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Ultrathin Transition Metal Dichalcogenide/3d Metal Hydroxide Hybridized Nanosheets to Enhance Hydrogen Evolution Activity journal May 2018
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