Issue 10, 2016

Activating earth-abundant electrocatalysts for efficient, low-cost hydrogen evolution/oxidation: sub-monolayer platinum coatings on titanium tungsten carbide nanoparticles

Abstract

Most earth-abundant electrocatalysts suffer from negligible activity for the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) and significant overpotentials for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acidic media. We designed earth-abundant, carbon-supported titanium tungsten carbide (TixW1−xC) nanoparticles decorated with surface Pt coatings ranging from the “single-atom” to the two-monolayer regime. Reactivity studies demonstrated that sub-monolayer Pt coverages are optimal and could activate the exposed metal carbide sites for both HER and HOR at low overpotentials. Specifically, a 0.25 monolayer coverage of Pt improved the exchange current density of Ti0.2W0.8C by more than three orders of magnitude. This catalyst outperformed traditional Pt/C by a factor of 13 on a Pt mass basis, allowing for over a 96% reduction in Pt loadings. Deactivation was not observed after 10 000 cycles between −50 and +600 mV vs. RHE in 1.0 M HClO4, and activity was maintained after 140 000 catalytic turnovers. A technoeconomic analysis revealed that over the catalyst lifetime, this new architecture could reduce materials and energy costs by a factor of 6 compared to state-of-the-art earth-abundant catalysts and a factor of 12 compared to Pt/C.

Graphical abstract: Activating earth-abundant electrocatalysts for efficient, low-cost hydrogen evolution/oxidation: sub-monolayer platinum coatings on titanium tungsten carbide nanoparticles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
05 Jul 2016
Accepted
07 Sep 2016
First published
07 Sep 2016

Energy Environ. Sci., 2016,9, 3290-3301

Activating earth-abundant electrocatalysts for efficient, low-cost hydrogen evolution/oxidation: sub-monolayer platinum coatings on titanium tungsten carbide nanoparticles

S. T. Hunt, M. Milina, Z. Wang and Y. Román-Leshkov, Energy Environ. Sci., 2016, 9, 3290 DOI: 10.1039/C6EE01929C

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