Enhanced Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Oxidation on Ni/NiO/C Derived from a Nickel‐Based Metal–Organic Framework. Issue 31 (27th June 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yang, Yang; Sun, Xiaodong; Han, Guanqun; Liu, Xi; Zhang, Xiangyu; Sun, Yongfang; Zhang, Min; Cao, Zhi; Sun, Yujie
• Is Part Of: Angewandte Chemie international edition. Volume 58:Issue 31(2019)
• Page Start: 10644
• Page End: 10649
• Publication Date: 2019-06-27
• Subjects: electrocatalysis -- hydrogen oxidation reaction -- interface -- metal–organic frameworks; Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201905430
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1433-7851

Abstract

Abstract: The sluggish hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) under alkaline conditions has hindered the commercialization of hydroxide‐exchange membrane hydrogen fuel cells. A low‐cost Ni/NiO/C catalyst with abundant Ni/NiO interfacial sites was developed as a competent HOR electrocatalyst in alkaline media. Ni/NiO/C exhibits an HOR activity one order of magnitude higher than that of its parent Ni/C counterpart. Moreover, Ni/NiO/C also shows better stability and CO tolerance than commercial Pt/C in alkaline media, which renders it a very promising HOR electrocatalyst for hydrogen fuel cell applications. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were also performed to shed light on the enhanced HOR performance of Ni/NiO/C; the DFT results indicate that both hydrogen and hydroxide achieve optimal binding energies at the Ni/NiO interface, resulting from the balanced electronic and oxophilic effects at the Ni/NiO interface. Abstract : A low‐cost Ni/NiO/C catalyst with abundant Ni/NiO interfacial sites as a competent HOR electrocatalyst was designed. It exhibits better stability and CO tolerance than commercial Pt/C in alkaline media.