Abstract
Modifications of local structure at atomic level could precisely and effectively tune the capacity of materials, enabling enhancement in the catalytic activity. Here we modulate the local atomic structure of a classical but inert transition metal oxide, tungsten trioxide, to be an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution in acidic water, which has shown promise as an alternative to platinum. Structural analyses and theoretical calculations together indicate that the origin of the enhanced activity could be attributed to the tailored electronic structure by means of the local atomic structure modulations. We anticipate that suitable structure modulations might be applied on other transition metal oxides to meet the optimal thermodynamic and kinetic requirements, which may pave the way to unlock the potential of other promising candidates as cost-effective electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution in industry.
Highlights
Modifications of local structure at atomic level could precisely and effectively tune the capacity of materials, enabling enhancement in the catalytic activity
Modulations of the local structure at the atomic level to tune WO3 into an active hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst still remains as a great challenge
Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images reveal the as-prepared WO2.9 nanoparticles with a mean diameter of 100 nm, which exhibits negligible difference comparing to the WO3 sample (Supplementary Fig. 2), indicating that the modification process in this work may not result in the aggregation of the nanoparticles
Summary
Modifications of local structure at atomic level could precisely and effectively tune the capacity of materials, enabling enhancement in the catalytic activity. We modulate the local atomic structure of a classical but inert transition metal oxide, tungsten trioxide, to be an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution in acidic water, which has shown promise as an alternative to platinum. We anticipate that suitable structure modulations might be applied on other transition metal oxides to meet the optimal thermodynamic and kinetic requirements, which may pave the way to unlock the potential of other promising candidates as cost-effective electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution in industry. As a large and important class of chemical compounds, most transition metal oxides fail to electrocatalyse hydrogen evolution in acidic water, numerous carbides, nitrides, phosphides and sulfides have shown the capacity for this reaction[11,12,13,14]. The findings in this work may hold the promise for the development of more practical non-Pt catalysts for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution and other scalable technologies that harness renewable energy and convert it to H2, for example, the proton exchange membrane electrolysis in acidic environment
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
