Robust carbon-encapsulated Ni nanoparticles as high-performance electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction in highly acidic media. (1st December 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nguyen, Van-Toan; Lee, Gyoung-Ja; Ngo, Quang-Tung; Omelianovych, Oleksii; Nguyen, Ngoc-Anh; Trinh, Van-Huy; Choi, Ho-Suk; Mnoyan, Anush; Lee, Kyubock; Larina, Liudmila L.; Chen, Guangliang
• Is Part Of: Electrochimica acta. Volume 398(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-12-01
• Subjects: Electrochemistry -- Periodicals; Electrochemistry, Industrial -- Periodicals; 541.37
• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2021.139332
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-4686

Abstract

Abstract: The major challenges related to non-noble-metal electrocatalysts toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in an acidic environment are to overcome their low efficiency and poor stability. For this purpose, we propose a rational top-down method to construct a hybrid structure of nickel encased by a carbon shell (Ni@C) using CH4 as a carbon source and Ni wire as a sacrificing template during an electrical explosion of wire. The Ni@C nanoparticles are introduced as highly active and durable non-noble metal electrocatalysts for the HER. The optimized Ni@C (15%) core-shell catalyst (CH4 /Ar = 15/85 pressure ratio) demonstrates the highest catalytic activity for the HER with an overpotential of 85 mV to drive a current density of -10 mA cm −2 and displays a low Tafel slope of 44 mV dec −1 . Another virtue of Ni@C (15%) is its superior stability during an unattenuated HER chronoamperometry for over 24 h. Furthermore, it endures over 168 h submerging in 2 M H2 SO4 solution without losing its catalytic activity for HER. Graphical abstract: Image, graphical abstract