skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Highly porous non-precious bimetallic electrocatalysts for efficient hydrogen evolution

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7567· OSTI ID:1256016
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [2];  [2];  [4];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [4];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States); Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
  2. Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)
  3. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

One of the key components of carbon dioxide-free hydrogen production is a robust and efficient non-precious metal catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction. We report that a hierarchical nanoporous copper-titanium bimetallic electrocatalyst is able to produce hydrogen from water under a mild overpotential at more than twice the rate of state-of-the- art carbon-supported platinum catalyst. Although both copper and titanium are known to be poor hydrogen evolution catalysts, the combination of these two elements creates unique copper-copper-titanium hollow sites, which have a hydrogen-binding energy very similar to that of platinum, resulting in an exceptional hydrogen evolution activity. Moreover, the hierarchical porosity of the nanoporous-copper titanium catalyst also contributes to its high hydrogen evolution activity, because it provides a large-surface area for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution, and improves the mass transport properties. Moreover, the catalyst is self-supported, eliminating the overpotential associated with the catalyst/support interface.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-13ER16381; SC0009476
OSTI ID:
1256016
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 6; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 400 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (57)

Design and analysis of synthetic carbon fixation pathways journal April 2010
Clean energy new deal for a sustainable world: from non-CO2 generating energy sources to greener electrochemical storage devices journal January 2011
Carbon Dioxide Recycling: Emerging Large-Scale Technologies with Industrial Potential journal September 2011
Advanced Technology Paths to Global Climate Stability: Energy for a Greenhouse Planet journal November 2002
Sustainable Hydrogen Production journal August 2004
Chemical looping: To combustion and beyond journal June 2014
Production of CO 2 -free hydrogen from methane dissociation: A review journal January 2013
Powering the planet: Chemical challenges in solar energy utilization journal October 2006
Solar Water Splitting: Progress Using Hematite (α-Fe2O3) Photoelectrodes journal March 2011
Molybdenum Carbide as Alternative Catalysts to Precious Metals for Highly Selective Reduction of CO 2 to CO journal May 2014
Enhancing the Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Activity through the Bifunctionality of Ni(OH) 2 /Metal Catalysts journal November 2012
Hydrogen Oxidation and Evolution Reaction Kinetics on Platinum: Acid vs Alkaline Electrolytes journal January 2010
Enhancing Hydrogen Evolution Activity in Water Splitting by Tailoring Li+-Ni(OH)2-Pt Interfaces journal December 2011
A Perovskite Oxide Optimized for Oxygen Evolution Catalysis from Molecular Orbital Principles journal October 2011
Benchmarking Heterogeneous Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction journal October 2013
Monolayer platinum supported on tungsten carbides as low-cost electrocatalysts: opportunities and limitations journal January 2011
A New Class of Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Production from Water Electrolysis: Metal Monolayers Supported on Low-Cost Transition Metal Carbides journal February 2012
Identification of Active Edge Sites for Electrochemical H2 Evolution from MoS2 Nanocatalysts journal July 2007
Building an appropriate active-site motif into a hydrogen-evolution catalyst with thiomolybdate [Mo3S13]2− clusters journal January 2014
Electrochemical tuning of vertically aligned MoS2 nanofilms and its application in improving hydrogen evolution reaction journal November 2013
A Molecular MoS2 Edge Site Mimic for Catalytic Hydrogen Generation journal February 2012
Highly active and durable nanostructured molybdenum carbide electrocatalysts for hydrogen production journal January 2013
Biomass-derived electrocatalytic composites for hydrogen evolution journal January 2013
A nanoporous molybdenum carbide nanowire as an electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction journal January 2014
Enhanced catalytic activity in strained chemically exfoliated WS2 nanosheets for hydrogen evolution journal July 2013
Nanostructured Nickel Phosphide as an Electrocatalyst for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction journal June 2013
Hydrogen evolution reaction (h.e.r.) in an acidic or basic medium on nickel electrodeposited with PW12O 40 3- and Cu2+ journal September 1993
Double perovskites as a family of highly active catalysts for oxygen evolution in alkaline solution journal September 2013
Monodisperse Au Nanoparticles for Selective Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO 2 to CO journal October 2013
Ternary Pt/Rh/SnO2 electrocatalysts for oxidizing ethanol to CO2 journal January 2009
Hydrogen evolution by a metal-free electrocatalyst journal April 2014
Highly stable Pt monolayer on PdAu nanoparticle electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction journal January 2012
Computational high-throughput screening of electrocatalytic materials for hydrogen evolution journal October 2006
Correlating the hydrogen evolution reaction activity in alkaline electrolytes with the hydrogen binding energy on monometallic surfaces journal January 2013
Trends in the Exchange Current for Hydrogen Evolution journal January 2005
Work function, electronegativity, and electrochemical behaviour of metals journal September 1972
Improving the hydrogen oxidation reaction rate by promotion of hydroxyl adsorption journal February 2013
New insights into the electrochemical hydrogen oxidation and evolution reaction mechanism journal January 2014
Correlating hydrogen oxidation and evolution activity on platinum at different pH with measured hydrogen binding energy journal January 2015
Binary alloy surface compositions from bulk alloy thermodynamic data journal October 1974
Nanoporous Metal Enhanced Catalytic Activities of Amorphous Molybdenum Sulfide for High-Efficiency Hydrogen Production journal February 2014
A Reversible and Higher-Rate Li-O2 Battery journal July 2012
A selective and efficient electrocatalyst for carbon dioxide reduction journal January 2014
Understanding and Controlling Nanoporosity Formation for Improving the Stability of Bimetallic Fuel Cell Catalysts journal February 2013
PtCu 3 , PtCu and Pt 3 Cu Alloy Nanoparticle Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Alkaline and Acidic Media journal January 2012
Engineering the surface structure of MoS2 to preferentially expose active edge sites for electrocatalysis journal October 2012
Core–shell MoO3–MoS2 Nanowires for Hydrogen Evolution A Functional Design for Electrocatalytic Materials journal October 2011
Atomic origins of the high catalytic activity of nanoporous gold journal August 2012
Oxygen reduction in nanoporous metal–ionic liquid composite electrocatalysts journal October 2010
Lattice-strain control of the activity in dealloyed core–shell fuel cell catalysts journal April 2010
Size-Dependent Morphology of Dealloyed Bimetallic Catalysts: Linking the Nano to the Macro Scale journal December 2011
Shape-selected bimetallic nanoparticle electrocatalysts: evolution of their atomic-scale structure, chemical composition, and electrochemical reactivity under various chemical environments journal January 2013
Long-Range Segregation Phenomena in Shape-Selected Bimetallic Nanoparticles: Chemical State Effects journal September 2013
Enhancing the Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Activity through the Bifunctionality of Ni(OH) 2 /Metal Catalysts journal November 2012
Molybdenum Carbide as Alternative Catalysts to Precious Metals for Highly Selective Reduction of CO 2 to CO journal May 2014
Work function, electronegativity, and electrochemical behaviour of metals journal December 1971
Trends in the Exchange Current for Hydrogen Evolution. journal June 2005

Cited By (90)

Overall Water Splitting Catalyzed Efficiently by an Ultrathin Nanosheet-Built, Hollow Ni 3 S 2 -Based Electrocatalyst journal May 2016
Structure Confined Porous Mo 2 C for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution journal October 2017
Nonprecious Intermetallic Al 7 Cu 4 Ni Nanocrystals Seamlessly Integrated in Freestanding Bimodal Nanoporous Copper for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Catalysis journal January 2018
Nickel-Cobalt Diselenide 3D Mesoporous Nanosheet Networks Supported on Ni Foam: An All-pH Highly Efficient Integrated Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution journal March 2017
Self-Templated Fabrication of MoNi 4 /MoO 3- x Nanorod Arrays with Dual Active Components for Highly Efficient Hydrogen Evolution journal August 2017
Porous Microrod Arrays Constructed by Carbon-Confined NiCo@NiCoO 2 Core@Shell Nanoparticles as Efficient Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Evolution journal April 2018
Functionalization of Hollow Nanomaterials for Catalytic Applications: Nanoreactor Construction journal July 2018
Iron Vacancies Induced Bifunctionality in Ultrathin Feroxyhyte Nanosheets for Overall Water Splitting journal July 2018
Borocarbonitrides as Metal‐Free Catalysts for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction journal October 2018
Mechanochemically Assisted Synthesis of a Ru Catalyst for Hydrogen Evolution with Performance Superior to Pt in Both Acidic and Alkaline Media journal September 2018
Self‐Supported Transition‐Metal‐Based Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen and Oxygen Evolution journal April 2019
Low‐Iridium‐Content IrNiTa Metallic Glass Films as Intrinsically Active Catalysts for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction journal December 2019
Controlled Synthesis of Eutectic NiSe/Ni 3 Se 2 Self-Supported on Ni Foam: An Excellent Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Overall Water Splitting journal February 2018
Colloidal Synthesis of Mo-Ni Alloy Nanoparticles as Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Efficient Overall Water Splitting journal May 2018
A Trimodal Porous Cobalt‐Based Electrocatalyst for Enhanced Oxygen Evolution journal July 2019
Mesoporous MoO 3- x Material as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reactions journal June 2016
Development of a Dinitrosyl Iron Complex Molecular Catalyst into a Hydrogen Evolution Cathode journal October 2015
Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Electrocatalysis Using Cobalt Nanotubes Decorated with Titanium Dioxide Nanodots journal February 2017
Investigation of the Support Effect in Atomically Dispersed Pt on WO 3− x for Utilization of Pt in the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction journal September 2019
Surface‐Electron Coupling for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution journal October 2019
Hierarchical β-Mo 2 C Nanotubes Organized by Ultrathin Nanosheets as a Highly Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Production journal November 2015
Silica-Polypyrrole Hybrids as High-Performance Metal-Free Electrocatalysts for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Neutral Media journal June 2017
Donor–Acceptor Nanocarbon Ensembles to Boost Metal‐Free All‐pH Hydrogen Evolution Catalysis by Combined Surface and Dual Electronic Modulation journal November 2019
Investigation of the Support Effect in Atomically Dispersed Pt on WO 3− x for Utilization of Pt in the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction journal November 2019
Perovskite materials in energy storage and conversion: Perovskite materials in energy storage and conversion journal May 2016
Folic Acid Derived Bimetallic-Doped Hollow Carbon Nanostructures for Efficient Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution journal September 2018
IrO 2 and Pt Doped Mesoporous SnO 2 Nanospheres as Efficient Electrocatalysts for the Facile OER and HER journal October 2018
Low‐Dimensional Metal‐Organic Frameworks and their Diverse Functional Roles in Catalysis journal May 2019
Hollow Bimetallic Zinc Cobalt Phosphosulfides for Efficient Overall Water Splitting journal December 2018
Nickel Foam‐Supported CoCO 3 @CoSe Nanowires with a Heterostructure Interface for Overall Water Splitting with Low Overpotential and High Efficiency journal March 2019
Dinitrosyl iron complexes: From molecular electrocatalysts to electrodeposited‐film electrodes for hydrogen evolution reaction journal May 2019
Two Synthesis Methods for Fe(III)@MOF‐5‐derived Porous Carbon Composites for Enhanced Phenol Hydroxylation journal December 2019
Graphdiyne-Supported NiCo 2 S 4 Nanowires: A Highly Active and Stable 3D Bifunctional Electrode Material journal June 2017
Synthesis of Hierarchical 4H/fcc Ru Nanotubes for Highly Efficient Hydrogen Evolution in Alkaline Media journal June 2018
3D Interdigitated Microsupercapacitors with Record Areal Cell Capacitance journal April 2019
Dopamine-assisted synthesis of rGO@NiPd@NC sandwich structure for highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction journal December 2019
CVD-grown three-dimensional sulfur-doped graphene as a binder-free electrocatalytic electrode for highly effective and stable hydrogen evolution reaction journal February 2018
Atomic-scale Pt clusters decorated on porous α-Ni(OH)2 nanowires as highly efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction journal May 2017
Defective MoS2 electrocatalyst for highly efficient hydrogen evolution through a simple ball-milling method journal September 2017
Three dimensional carbon substrate materials for electrolysis of water journal June 2018
Efficient hydrogen evolution by ternary molybdenum sulfoselenide particles on self-standing porous nickel diselenide foam journal September 2016
Machine learning hydrogen adsorption on nanoclusters through structural descriptors journal July 2018
Earth-abundant catalysts for electrochemical and photoelectrochemical water splitting journal January 2017
Highly efficient hydrogen evolution from seawater by a low-cost and stable CoMoP@C electrocatalyst superior to Pt/C journal January 2017
Hierarchical MoS 2 @MoP core–shell heterojunction electrocatalysts for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction over a broad pH range journal January 2016
Nanostructured catalysts for electrochemical water splitting: current state and prospects journal January 2016
Tin nanoparticles decorated copper oxide nanowires for selective electrochemical reduction of aqueous CO 2 to CO journal January 2016
An interfacial engineering approach towards two-dimensional porous carbon hybrids for high performance energy storage and conversion journal January 2017
Direct deposition of MoSe 2 nanocrystals onto conducting substrates: towards ultra-efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution journal January 2017
Conducting polymer nanofiber-supported Pt alloys: unprecedented materials for methanol oxidation with enhanced electrocatalytic performance and stability journal January 2017
Amination of 1-hexanol on bimetallic AuPd/TiO 2 catalysts journal January 2018
Highly conductive and metallic cobalt–nickel selenide nanorods supported on Ni foam as an efficient electrocatalyst for alkaline water splitting journal January 2019
Quasi-single-crystalline CoO hexagrams with abundant defects for highly efficient electrocatalytic water oxidation journal January 2018
On the role of hydroxide species in sulphur- and nitrogen-doped cobalt-based carbon catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction journal January 2018
3D nanoporous Ni/V 2 O 3 hybrid nanoplate assemblies for highly efficient electrochemical hydrogen evolution journal January 2018
Transition metal modification and carbon vacancy promoted Cr 2 CO 2 (MXenes): a new opportunity for a highly active catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction journal January 2018
A substrate-free Mo 2 C-based electrocatalyst by facile glucose-blowing for efficient hydrogen production journal January 2019
Synthesis of Ni 4.5 Fe 4.5 S 8 /Ni 3 S 2 film on Ni 3 Fe alloy foam as an excellent electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction journal January 2019
Rational construction of macroporous CoFeP triangular plate arrays from bimetal–organic frameworks as high-performance overall water-splitting catalysts journal January 2019
Screening alloy electrocatalysts by combining magnetron sputtering and scanning electrochemical microscopy journal May 2019
Enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction on hybrids of cobalt phosphide and molybdenum phosphide journal March 2017
Enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction catalyzed by carbon‐rich Mo 4.8 Si 3 C 0.6 /C/SiC nanocomposites via a PDC approach journal September 2019
Copper (0) Doping Makes Cobalt-Nickel Hydroxide a High-Efficiency Catalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction journal January 2018
3D Self-Supported Fe-Doped Ni 2 P Nanosheet Arrays as Bifunctional Catalysts for Overall Water Splitting journal August 2017
A Perovskite Electrocatalyst for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction journal May 2016
Hydrogen Evolution and Oxidation: Mechanistic Studies and Material Advances journal December 2018
Flexible Co–Mo–N/Au Electrodes with a Hierarchical Nanoporous Architecture as Highly Efficient Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction journal January 2020
Unconventional Nickel Nitride Enriched with Nitrogen Vacancies as a High-Efficiency Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution journal June 2018
Silica-Polypyrrole Hybrids as High-Performance Metal-Free Electrocatalysts for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Neutral Media journal June 2017
Donor–Acceptor Nanocarbon Ensembles to Boost Metal‐Free All‐pH Hydrogen Evolution Catalysis by Combined Surface and Dual Electronic Modulation journal September 2019
Surface‐Electron Coupling for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution journal December 2019
Facile Synthesis of a Porous Pd/Cu Alloy and its Enhanced Performance toward Methanol and Formic Acid Electrooxidation journal July 2017
3D Hierarchical Porous Mo 2 C for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution journal April 2016
Synergistic Nanotubular Copper-Doped Nickel Catalysts for Hydrogen Evolution Reactions journal February 2018
Graphene as an intermediary for enhancing the electron transfer rate: A free-standing Ni3S2@graphene@Co9S8 electrocatalytic electrode for oxygen evolution reaction journal February 2018
Bottom-up synthesis of fully sp 2 hybridized three-dimensional microporous graphitic frameworks as metal-free catalysts journal January 2017
Ru nanodendrites composed of ultrathin fcc/hcp nanoblades for the hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline solutions journal January 2018
Multiscale porous molybdenum phosphide of honeycomb structure for highly efficient hydrogen evolution journal January 2018
Facile charge transfer in fibrous PdPt bimetallic nanocube counter electrodes journal January 2019
Decorating WSe 2 nanosheets with ultrafine Ru nanoparticles for boosting electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution in alkaline electrolytes journal January 2019
High loading accessible active sites via designable 3D-printed metal architecture towards promoting electrocatalytic performance journal January 2019
Catalyst design by scanning probe block copolymer lithography journal March 2018
One-pot synthesis of in situ carbon-decorated Cu 3 P particles with enhanced electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance journal October 2017
Development of a Dinitrosyl Iron Complex Molecular Catalyst into a Hydrogen Evolution Cathode journal October 2015
An amorphous dual action electrocatalyst based on oxygen doped cobalt sulfide for the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions journal January 2017
An organic ligand promoting the electrocatalytic activity of cobalt oxide for the hydrogen evolution reaction journal January 2019
The fabrication of Co:ZnS/CoS 2 heterostructure nanowires with a superior hydrogen evolution performance journal January 2019
Folded nanosheet-like Co0.85Se array for overall water splitting journal January 2018
Bulk layered heterojunction as an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution journal March 2017
Electrospun Carbon Nanofibers with Embedded Co-Ceria Nanoparticles for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution and Overall Water Splitting journal February 2020