The Mechanism of Hydrogen Evolution Reaction at the Buried Interface of Silica-Coated Electrocatalysts

Abstract

Semipermeable oxide coatings can protect electrocatalysts in harsh environments without reducing the catalytic performance (Labrador, Esposito et al. ACS Catal. 8, 2018, 1767–1778), making them attractive for direct seawater electrolysis. We recently showed that the buried SiO2/Pt interface of silica-coated platinum electrocatalysts is environment-dependent and changes with the pH value of the electrolyte and the electrode potential (Qu and Urban, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 12, 2020, 52125–52135). Here, we discuss the impact of silica membrane coatings on the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) mechanism at the interface with different transition-metal surfaces. Stable configurations of the buried SiO2/TM interface at HER conditions were determined using density-functional theory (DFT) calculations. Computed Pourbaix diagrams for different transition-metal substrates show the pH and potential dependence of reaction intermediates and the hydrogen coverage on the metal surface. Our results indicate that the HER mechanism at the buried SiO2/catalyst interfaces may involve the silica membrane. Hence, besides the protective quality of silica membranes, this also points to the possibility of designing synergistic membrane-coated electrocatalysts that surpass the bare surfaces of earth-abundant transition metals in terms of catalytic performance (stability, activity, and/or selectivity).