3d transitional-metal single atom catalysis toward hydrogen evolution reaction on MXenes supports

Single atom catalysis involving atomically dispersed metal active sites on the appropriate supports is the effective way to magnify the catalytic efficiency and reduce the cost. By performing the first-principles calculations, we studied the anchoring of 3d transitional-metal single atoms M (Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn) on the surfaces of MXenes Cr₂CO₂ and Mo₂CO₂ and the catalytic activity of the single atom sites for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Sixteen single atom sites, M-Cr₂CO₂ (M = Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu and Zn) and M-Mo₂CO₂ (M = Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe and Zn) have been chosen via examining the energetical and thermal stability of the isolated M atoms on the substrates. More importantly, we have calculated the Gibbs free energy change (ΔG_H) of H adsorption on the surface of M anchored Cr₂CO₂ and Mo₂CO₂ and find that Cr, Fe, Zn on Cr₂CO₂ and Sc, V on Mo₂CO₂ are the promising single atom active sites toward HER. Additionally, our results show that M atoms adsorbing turns the nearby sites to be active for catalyzing HER. MXenes Cr₂CO₂ and Mo₂CO₂, in terms of the supporting not only stabilize but also works together with the anchored single atom M as active catalyst toward HER.     

Enhanced catalytic activities of Fe anchored on graphene substrates for water splitting and hydrogen evolution

Water splitting on single Fe atom catalyst anchored on defective graphene surfaces by using first-principles density functional theory. The structure and electronic features of isolated Fe atom anchored on three graphene surfaces with single vacancy (SV), double vacancy (DV) and Stone-Wales structure (SW) defect were systematically explored. The three structures prove to be high activity and high stability on catalytic. The adsorption and the energy barrier of water splitting as well as hydrogen adsorption free energy ΔG_H1 on single-atom Fe were also studied. The sequence of promoted splitting activity is found to be Fe@SW > Fe@DV > Fe@SV. Furthermore, by hydrogen adsorption free energy ΔG_H1 analysis, we predict that the HER catalytic activity of graphene nanosheet can be improved by anchoring Fe atom on SV and DV structures, which are comparable to or even better than noble metals. It is found that the catalytic activity of water splitting and HER can be changed with the shift in d-band center with respect to Fermi-level. Detailed investigations on electronic structure of Fe@graphene catalytic systems disclose an obvious orbital hybridization coupling and charge transfer between atom Fe on carbon surfaces and water molecule. These results provide us with new insight into design of high performer and low-cost catalysts and may inspire potential applications in the fields of clean and renewable energy.     

High-throughput screening of transition metal single-atom catalyst anchored on Janus MoSSe basal plane for hydrogen evolution reaction

Considerable efforts have been made to enhance the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalytic performance of Janus MoSSe monolayer, which have been considered to be a promising candidate due to the unique asymmetry structure. However, the activation effect remains non-optimal for the inert Janus MoSSe basal plane at present. Herein, a train of transition metal (TM) atoms were anchored on the S-/Se-/Mo-defective MoSSe basal plane to screen effective TM single-atom catalysts for HER through density functional theory (DFT) computations. Interestingly, the single Co atom anchored on Mo-defective MoSSe and the single Zn or Cd atom anchored on S-defective MoSSe were judged to possess excellent HER performance yielding a near-zero ΔG_H (ΔG_H = ?0.050, ?0.095, ?0.098 eV, respectively), which is comparable to the optimized Pt-SACs. The enhanced HER activity is attributed to the doping of TM atoms (Co, Zn and Cd) which improves the conductivity of the original MoSSe and offers unoccupied states near the Fermi level decreasing the energy barrier of electrons transfer between H and TMs@MoSSe surface. In addition, the change of unoccupied antibonding states of active atoms leads to appropriate interaction between the active sites and H. The hybridization between H-s orbital and the TMs@MoSSe systems around the Fermi level also suggests the formation of stable bonding-antibonding hydrogen adsorption states. This work reveals an effective way of activating MoSSe basal plane for HER.     

Atomically dispersed low-cost transition metals catalyze efficient hydrogen evolution on two-dimensional SnO nanosheets

Two-dimensional (2D) electrocatalyst plays an important role in hydrogen production via water splitting. In this work, the first-principles calculation was used to investigate the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance of transition metal (TM) single atom catalysts (SACs) on 2D SnO nanosheets. Among the TM considered (TM = V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Pt), V, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Pt can effectively improve the catalytic activity of SnO. More importantly, the low-cost Co can exhibit promising HER performance with the Gibbs free energy as low as ~0.015 eV, which is competitive with the precious catalyst Pt. The theoretical exchange current densities of Co SACs can reach ~10⁻¹⁶ A/site. The exciting HER activity is mainly facilitated through the d-d hybridization between the TM and Sn atoms on the SnO surface, which introduces new electron states near the Fermi level. Our work highlights the complexity and diversity of the effect of TM SACs on SnO nanosheets and implies their potential applications as efficient HER electrocatalysts.     

Carbon nanorod supported metal alloy nanocubes using polydopamine as location reagent for water splitting

Transition metal catalysts were supposed to be the most likely substitute for commercial noble metal catalysts, and the development of highly active and long-term catalyst for water splitting are the future trend. Herein, Ni rectangular nitrogen doped carbon nanorods@Fe–Co nanocubes (Ni-CNRs@Fe–Co cubes) were fabricated via a facile template-free method. This simple strategy not only realizes the structure tailoring, but also achieves high-quality nitrogen-doping. Specifically, nickel dimethylglyoxime [Ni(dmg)₂] with rectangular rodlike structure was firstly synthesized by solution method, then metal-organic frameworks Fe–Co nanocube with different contents were loaded on rectangular carbon nanorods with polydopamine as the locating and the connecting agent, and finally Ni-CNRs@xFe-Co cubes were obtained by a one-step calcination. A series of electrochemical tests were researched on materials with different metal contents in the 1 M KOH solution. The Ni-CNRs@Fe–Co cubes show excellent electrocatalytic activity in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). For HER and OER, the Tafel slopes were 83.3 mV dec⁻¹ and 71 mV dec⁻¹, the onset potential were −167 mV and 1.62 V, and reached the current densities of 10 mA cm⁻², the overpotential just needed 196 mV and 433 mV, respectively. This novel synthetic strategy will provide a template-free way for cheap electrocatalysts of non-precious metal for OER and HER.     

Template-assisted polymerization-pyrolysis derived mesoporous carbon anchored with Fe/Fe3C and Fe−NX species as efficient oxygen reduction catalysts for Zn-air battery

Constructing highly efficient and durable non-noble metal modified carbon catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in the whole pH range is essential for energy conversion devices but still remains a challenge. Herein, the Fe/Fe₃C nanoparticles and Fe-N_X species anchored on the interconnected mesoporous carbon materials are fabricated through an economical and facile template-assisted polymerization-pyrolysis strategy. The catalyst exhibits unique features with the electronic interaction between Fe/Fe₃C and Fe−N_X, large specific surface area and high mesoporous structure as well as nitrogen doping in porous carbon skeletons, which can effectively catalyze ORR over the full pH range. In an alkaline electrolyte, the optimized catalyst displays favorable ORR performance with positive onset potential (E_onset = 0.91 V), half-wave potential (E_1/2 = 0.83 V), long-term cycles stability and methanol tolerance, exceeding those for the commercial Pt/C. Furthermore, the prepared catalyst could be directly assembled into the alkaline Zn−air battery that exhibits the open-circuit voltage of 1.44 V, high power density of 96.0 mW cm⁻² and long-term durability. Therefore, the template-assisted polymerization-pyrolysis strategy provides a promising route for designing high-performance non-noble metal decorated ORR electrocatalysts.     

Engineering the activity of CoNx-graphene for hydrogen evolution

The sustainable generation of H₂ from water electrolysis is a promising approach to alleviating current energy crisis and environmental pollution. However, the efficiency of such a system is limited by the conventional noble metal catalysts. Herein, using first-principle calculations, we demonstrate the potential of non-precious Co and N-codoped graphene systems (CoNx-N/O-gra, x = 1–4) in efficiently catalyzing the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The findings showed that the activity of the Co sites was influenced by the concentration and configuration of N dopants, as well as the coordination environment of Co atom. From the volcano curve, obtained by plotting the exchange current as a function of the adsorption free energy, optimal performance was achieved on CoN4-gra, which was attributed to the moderate adsorption of CoN4-gra towards H. The electronic structures analyses confirmed that the hybridization between Co sp orbital and H s orbital played key role in tuning the interactions between the catalysts and H, which could be regulated by the coordination environment of Co. The present findings highlight the potential of non-precious metal/non-metal-codoped graphene as HER catalysts and offers an effective approach to tune the HER activity by modifying the coordination environment of the metal atoms.     

The effect of heteroatoms doping for the Pt supported graphene hollow spheres on electrocatalytic properties towards oxygen reduction and hydrogen evolution reaction

Noble metal Pt is the acknowledged efficient catalyst for oxygen reduction (ORR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in commercial applications. However, due to its high price and limited reserves, its large-scale application is limited. In order to overcome this defect, the loaded Pt nanoparticles (NPs) should be small and dispersed efficiently through the design of electrode materials, so as to improve the utilization efficiency of Pt. In addition, the introduction of non-noble metal active sites can reduce the consumption of Pt efficiently. In this work, hollow graphene spheres are used as the carrier and the heteroatoms (N, Fe and Co) are introduced. The results show that the introduction of Fe and Co can form very effective heteroatom active sites (carbon encapsulated Fe/Co metals and FeCo alloy, and/or metal nitrides Fe/Co-N_x-C) in the substrate material, which improve the catalytic activity of the electrode material effectively and the utilization efficiency of Pt. In addition, the generation of Fe/Co-N_x-C active sites and the loading of Pt are also closely related to the doped N atoms. The onset potential, limiting current density (J_L), half-wave potential (E_1/2) and Tafel slope of sample FeCo-N_xHGSs/Pt (10 wt%) can exceed or comparable to those of commercial catalysts Pt/C (20 wt%) towards ORR both in acid and alkaline electrolyte. Moreover, the values of η₁₀₀ and the Tafel slope for FeCo-N_xHGSs/Pt towards HER can also exceed the commercial catalysts Pt/C (20 wt%) in acid and alkaline electrolytes. The purpose of reducing the usage amount of precious metals without reducing the catalytic performance is realized. The relationship between the ORR and HER performance of the resultant electrode catalyst and the doped heteroatoms, such as nitrogen (N), iron (Fe) and cobalt (Co) atoms, was studied and discussed in detail.     

Electrochemically assisted synthesis of three-dimensional FeP nanosheets to achieve high electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction

Iron phosphide (FeP) is a promising alternative catalyst for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) due to its low price, highly active catalytic sites and long-term anti-acid corrosion. Herein, we report a very facile strategy to fabricate novel FeP nanosheets as a HER electrocatalyst. Three-dimensional interconnected nanosheet structures of Fe₂O₃ (3D Fe₂O₃ NS) were directly exfoliated from metal Fe wires by alternating current (AC) voltage disturbance, and a simple subsequent phosphorization process could easily convert γ-Fe₂O₃ into FeP phase, which also maintained the 3D NS structure. Importantly, increasing the AC voltage resulted in the evolution of iron-containing nanostructures from nanoparticles to 2D nanosheets until the formation of 3D NS structure. Owing to the large specific surface area, enriched active sites and abundant hierarchical porous channels, as-prepared 3D FeP NS has exhibited significantly enhanced electrocatalytic HER activities such as a cathode current density of 10 mA cm⁻² at a small overpotential of 88 mV, low Tafel slope (47.7 mV dec⁻¹) and satisfactory long-term stability in acidic electrolyte. We expect that this simple and green synthetic strategy of transition metal phosphides will provide a promising prospect to innovate nonprecious HER electrocatalysts.     

Enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction performance of MoS2 by dual metal atoms doping

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) has been considered a promising high-efficiency, low-cost hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst in acidic and alkaline media. However, the lack of active sites in the basal plane become the most significant obstacle hindering the widespread application of MoS₂. Here, we systematically studied the HER performance of MoS₂ plane or edge by co-doping Co atom and other 3d transition metals (TM = Ti–Fe, Ni) by density functional theory calculation methods. Interestingly, the dual atoms doping in both the basal plane and edges of MoS₂ is a feasible fabrication with small or negative formation energies. Compared with the pristine MoS₂ electrocatalyst, the HER performance in these doped systems is largely enhanced in both basal plane and edges due to the effective charge regulation on the S site by dual atom doping. Remarkably, close to zero H adsorption free energy (ΔG_H = ?0.161–0.119 eV) is identified for the TM-Co co-doped MoS₂ basal, indicating that they are potential alternate HER electrocatalysts of Pt. Our study provides a new strategy to design highly efficient non-noble metal electrocatalysts accessibility for energy-related applications.     

Uniform cobalt nanoparticles embedded in nitrogen-doped graphene with abundant defects as high-performance bifunctional electrocatalyst in overall water splitting

Co nanoparticles with uniform size (about 5 nm) embedded in N-doped graphene (Co-NG) were explored in this work. The introduction of a second carbon source of citric acid during synthesis prevented the Co atoms from growing up, thus regulating the size of the cobalt nanoparticles. N atoms in N-doped graphene had more lone-pair electrons, making it easier to capture electrons from hydrated ions, and facilitating the dynamics procedure of HER. Furthermore, N dopant rendered larger positive charge density on the adjacent carbon atoms, which was conducive to OER and HER. At 10 mA cm^?2 of the current density, the Co-NG/CC catalyst's overvoltage of HER was 78 mV, approaching that of 20% Pt/C (59 mV), an efficient precious metal electrocatalyst for HER, while its overvoltage of OER was about 225 mV, 12.5% lower than that of RuO₂ (257 mV, a common precious metal oxide OER electrocatalyst). In addition, this Co-NG/CC composite bifunctional catalyst displayed good electrochemical stability in alkali solution and might be designed as a dual-function catalyst in the application of overall water splitting. The cell voltage of Co-NG/CC//Co-NG/CC was only 1.66 V, approaching to that of full precious metal cell of Pt/C//RuO₂ (1.52 V), and revealing the good commercial application prospects of this composite bifunctional catalyst.     

Renewable syngas & hydrogen synthesis via steam reforming of glycerol over ceria-mediated exsolved metal nano catalysts

Currently, catalyst design and development has drawn much attention as results of its strategic importance in the area of energy applications particular those involving biomass conversion. This work tailored exsolution of metal catalysts through the use of ceria for enhanced structural and catalytic behaviour in steam reforming of glycerol. Aside the understanding that defects due to A-site deficiency facilitates formation of vacant sites and exsolution of metal catalysts on the B-site of perovskite systems, this work has exemplified that metals such as ceria significantly influences the exsolution and general morphological surface architecture and catalytic behaviour. The exsolved nickel catalysts anchored and socketed on a titanate support and the ceria's basic surface properties and oxygen storage-release behaviour has modified the perovskite surface chemistry and enhanced catalytic behaviour particularly deactivation due to carbon deposition and reusability. Other exsolvable dopant metal species such as Fe and Co forms alloys with nickel on the surface and the synergy between the dopant metals in the alloy yielded better results. Furthermore, in one of the catalyst systems, the most commonly observed tolerable A-site deficiency and doping limit of 2% known for SrTiO₃ perovskite was overstretched by 0.5% (2.5%) thereby increasing the defect chemistry. The catalyst system with such formulation has shown a dramatic exsolution phenomenon and catalytic behaviour and robust suppression of coke deposition. CO selectivity >60% and H₂ selectivity >40% was recorded with all the catalyst systems. The catalysts used in this work are useful for applications in energy and production of value added chemicals.     

Construction of hollow structure cobalt iron selenide polyhedrons for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction

The development of highly active, robust and cost-effective noble metal-free electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline solution remains a severe challenge. In this work, a hollow structure CoSe₂-FeSe₂ heterojunction electrocatalyst (denoted by “(Co,Fe)Se₂”) was designed by a simple anion exchange reaction and selenization. Benefiting from the unique hollow structure, the (Co,Fe)Se₂ catalyst accelerates diffusion of electrolyte, besides, the CoSe₂-FeSe₂ heterojunction could provide rapid interfacial charge transportation and more active sites for the HER reaction. The (Co,Fe)Se₂ electrode material exhibits good performance for HER in 1 M KOH electrolyte. It needs an overpotential of 124 mV to obtain a current density of 10 mA cm⁻², and the Tafel slope is 65 mV dec⁻¹. Besides, (Co,Fe)Se₂ has a smaller charge transfer resistance compared with CoSe₂. At the same time, it has relatively large electrochemical active surface area due to the porosity. Most importantly, the (Co,Fe)Se₂ electrode displays good stability in alkaline conditions for 15 hours, the linear sweep voltammetry curves are almost coincident before and after 1000 cycles, the overpotential with current density of 10 mA cm⁻² increased by only 9.76% after 5000 cycles of CV. It shows great application potential in HER.     

N-doped hollow porous carbon spheres@Co Cu Fe alloy nanospheres as novel non-precious metal electrocatalysts for HER and OER

In this work, a string of different proportion trimetallic loaded the N-doped hollow porous carbon nanospheres (N-HPCS@Co Cu Fe NSs) were successfully crafted by a simple and economical method. Herein, the hollow-carbon structure was formed by etching carbon nanospheres. Moreover, owing to the presence of the PDA and P123, high dispersed nano spheres with mesopores were obtained. By this way, the catalyst can expose unique internal cavity and short transport path. Meanwhile, trimetal-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) Co Cu Fe alloy nano spheres (Co Cu Fe NSs) are first prepared. Creatively, PDA acts as the carbon resource, nitrogen resource and metal grafting agent simultaneously. Through a series of tests, N-HPCS@Co₁ Cu₁ Fe NSs has the best electrocatalytic performance and durable stability. This work highlights the current advances of hollow porous carbon structure, trimetallic active sites and N-doping, as well as, endow high electrocatalytic activity and durability for HER and OER.     

Self-assembly synthesis of Ru nanoparticles anchored on B,N co-doping carbon support for hydrogen evolution: Electronic state induced by the strong metal-support interactions

The strong metal-support interactions between metal and its support have been considered as an effective way to improve the electrocatalytic activity in heterogeneous catalysis, which can modulate metal d-band's energy level and, consequently, affect the adsorption/desorption of the intermediates on the metal nanoparticle's surface. In this paper, we use a self-assembly strategy for construction nano-sized Ru nanoparticles (NPs) anchored on B, N co-doping carbon nanorod carrier (Ru/BCN) as HER catalyst by using unique boron cluster-organic framework as precursor and self-sacrificing templates. This supramolecular framework forming with cucurbit [6]uril as the host and closo-[B₁₂H₁₂]^2- as the guest can feature unique hexagonal nanorod morphology to confine the Ru NPs into framework through weak reductivity of closo-[B₁₂H₁₂]^2-. After pyrolysis, the strong metal-support interactions between B, N co-doping carbon support (BCN) and Ru NPs have been found due to the synergistic coupling effect of co-dopants B and N, which can increase electron transfer between the metal nanoparticle and support. The overpotentials of 33 mV and 40 mV are required for as-prepared catalyst Ru/BCN to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm^?2 in alkaline and acidic conditions, respectively, which are approximately one third of those of Ru/CN. These findings demonstrate that our synthetic way offers a potential route for fabricating co-doping carbon with B and N atoms to support Ru NPs with enhanced HER performance in pH-independent conditions.     

Efficient electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction and solar activity via bi-functional GO/Co3O4–TiO2 nano hybrid structure

Highly proficient electro and solar catalyst of mixed metal oxides Co₃O₄–TiO₂ modified with graphene oxide (GO) have been synthesized by simple and cost-effective way using sol-gel methodology. This catalyst demonstrated versatile bi-functional features towards the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in catalytic water splitting along with solar photo catalytic activity in the degradation of Methyl Orange (MO). XRD profile confirmed that composite presented an anatase and cubic phase for TiO₂ and Co₃O₄, respectively, with the GO network. The morphological structures confirm flaky texture of Co₃O₄ with small irregular spheres of TiO₂ nanoparticles randomly dispersed on the broken sheets of GO. GO and clusters of Co²⁺/Co³⁺ in different regions of host TiO₂ are accountable for decreasing band gap in the composite samples. Co–O–Ti and Co–Ti–C linkages in the composite materials are confirmed by Raman and FTIR studies. In electro catalytic HER in alkaline medium GO/Co₃O₄–TiO₂ catalyst illustrated low onset potential ~343 mV vs. RHE, high current density ~43 mA cm⁻² corresponding small Tafel slope ~97 mV/dec and small R_ct as compared to other catalysts. For HER in GO/Co₃O₄–TiO₂, Co²⁺ sites are more catalytically active than Co³⁺ sites along with Ti⁴⁺ and GO provides the more active surface area by reducing the agglomeration between the mixed metal oxides. GO/Co₃O₄–TiO₂ shows the highest photo catalytic performance over MO as compared to binary and ternary composites. Pining of metal oxides with reactive oxygen functional moieties of GO considerably improve the photo catalytic degradation activity and helpful in the separation of charge carriers for HER.     

Electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction

In addition to the historical importance of water electrolysis, hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is the heart of various energy storage and conversation systems in the future of renewable energy. The HER electrocatalysis can be well conducted by Pt with a low overpotential close to zero and a Tafel slope around 30 mV dec^?1; however, the practical developments to satisfy the growing demands require cheaper electrocatalysts. Noble metals are still the promising candidates, though further improvement is needed to enhance the HER efficiency in performance. Three categories of non-noble metal electrocatalysts are under heavy investigations: (i) alloys, (ii) transition metal compounds, and (iii) carbonaceous nanomaterials. The most practical option, based on the electrocatalytic activity and electrochemical stability, seems to be the transition metal compounds MX (where M is Mo, W, Ni, Co, etc. and X is S, Se, P, C, N, etc.). Among these compounds, some like MoS₂ and WC can display metallic properties and a Pt-like electrocatalytic activity, but they still need serious modifications for the practical performance. In general, similar strategies have been employed to improve the HER performance of all of these materials such as doping (both cation and anion), controlling the crystallinity and amorphism, and increasing the active sites by changing the morphology. Another important issue is the chemical and physical structure of the carbon-based catalyst support, as carbon is normally a vital component even for the Pt electrocatalysts.     

Boosting activity and stability by coupling Pt–Ni nanoparticles with La-modified flexible carbon nanofibers for hydrogen evolution reaction

Platinum (Pt) is considered as the most efficient catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with a nearly zero overpotential, but it is limited by the high cost and poor stability. Herein, we report an efficient electrocatalyst of Pt–Ni alloy nanoparticles (NPs) supported on the La-modified flexible carbon nanocomposite fibers (PtNi@La-CNFs) for HER. The rare earth metal oxide in the catalyst has a structure-effect relationship with the carbon fibers to form a flexible fiber membrane. Experimental results show that the macroscopic and microscopic properties of carbon nanocomposite fibers can be optimized by doping La₂O₃, and the Pt–Ni NPs can be anchored effectively. The Pt₁Ni₁@La-CNFs electrocatalyst exhibits a small overpotential of 32 mV to achieve current density of 10 mA cm^?2 with a low Tafel slope of 51 mV dec^?1 in alkaline medium, outperforming that of Pt@La-CNFs and the commercial Pt/C catalyst. This study reveals that the multiple coupling effect of rare earth compound, precious metal, and transition metal in composite catalyst can tailor its the electronic configuration, and results in an enhanced HER performance. This work opens up a novel approach to design high active and low cost Pt-based HER catalysts.     

Facile electrochemical preparation of nonprecious Co-Cu alloy catalysts for hydrogen production in proton exchange membrane water electrolysis

To realize nonprecious-metal catalysts with practical applicability for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), improved corrosion resistance and catalytic activity are required. In this study, composition-controlled Co-Cu alloys were fabricated by electrodeposition for use as HER catalysts in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs). As the Cu content in the alloy increased, the morphology changed from needle-shaped particles to small round particles. Furthermore, a phase transition from a hexagonal close-packed structure to a face-centered cubic structure occurs because the latter structure is stabilized by adding Cu to Co. The optimum catalyst composition for the HER was found to be Co₅₉Cu₄₁, which had an overpotential of 342 mV at −10 mA cm⁻². This catalyst exhibited excellent durability, showing a potential reduction of approximately 100 mV over 12 hours under a constant current density. This superior performance was attributed to the increase in the electrochemical surface area resulting from the addition of Cu, as confirmed by electrochemical double layer capacitance measurements, in addition to a counterbalance between the hydrogen adsorption energies of Co and Cu. Finally, the application of the Co-Cu alloy catalyst as a cathode catalyst in a PEMWE resulted in excellent performance of 1.2 A cm⁻² at 2.0 V_cell.     

H2 production by methane decomposition: Catalytic and technological aspects

Ni and Co supported on SiO₂ and Al₂O₃ silica cloth thin layer catalysts have been investigated in the catalytic decomposition of natural gas (CDNG) reaction. The influence of carrier nature and reaction temperature was evaluated with the aim to individuate the key factors affecting coke formation. Both Ni and Co silica supported catalysts, due to the low metal support interaction (MSI), promotes the formation of carbon filament with particles at tip. On the contrary, in case alumina was used as support, metals strongly interact with surface thus depressing both the metal sintering and the detachment of particles from catalyst surface. In such cases, carbon grows on metal particle with a “base mechanism” while particles remain well anchored on the catalyst surface. This allowed to realize a cyclic dual-step process based on methane decomposition and catalyst oxygen regeneration without deactivation of catalyst. Technological considerations have led to conclude that the implement of a process based on decomposition and regeneration of catalyst by oxidation requires the development of a robust catalytic system characterized by both a strong MSI and a well defined particle size distribution. In particular, the catalyst should be able to operate at high temperature, necessary to reach high methane conversion values (> 90%), avoiding at the same time the formation of both the carbon filaments with metal at tip or the encapsulating carbon which drastically deactivate the catalyst.