Rhodium/graphitic-carbon-nitride composite electrocatalyst facilitates efficient hydrogen evolution in acidic and alkaline electrolytes

Binbin Jiang; Aijian Huang; Tao Wang; Qi Shao; Wenxiang Zhu; Fan Liao; Yafei Cheng; Mingwang Shao

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2020.03.022

Rhodium/graphitic-carbon-nitride composite electrocatalyst facilitates efficient hydrogen evolution in acidic and alkaline electrolytes

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2020 Jul 1:571:30-37. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.03.022. Epub 2020 Mar 9.

Authors

Binbin Jiang¹, Aijian Huang², Tao Wang³, Qi Shao⁴, Wenxiang Zhu⁴, Fan Liao⁵, Yafei Cheng⁶, Mingwang Shao⁷

Affiliations

¹ Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, PR China; Anhui Key Laboratory of Photoelectric-Magnetic Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Anqing Normal University, Anqing 246011, China.
² School of Electronics Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, PR China; Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
³ Anhui Key Laboratory of Photoelectric-Magnetic Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Anqing Normal University, Anqing 246011, China.
⁴ Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, PR China.
⁵ Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, PR China. Electronic address: fliao@suda.edu.cn.
⁶ Jiangsu Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Material Engineering, Changshu Institute of Technology, Changshu 215500, China. Electronic address: yafeicheng1990@163.com.
⁷ Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, PR China. Electronic address: mwshao@suda.edu.cn.

PMID: 32179306
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.03.022

Abstract

Exploring the highly efficient and durable electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is vitally necessary for sustainable energy conversion and storage system. Herein, we fabricate an interfacial engineered Rh-carbon nitride as advanced electrocatalysts for HER in the acidic and alkaline electrolytes. The interface between Rh nanocrystals and carbon nitride may adjust the electronic structure of Rh, which results in high activity for HER. The optimal Rh-carbon nitride shows low overpotential at current density of -10 mA·cm^-2 and small Tafel slope (13 mV and 25.0 mV dec^-1 in 0.5 M H₂SO₄, 46 mV and 42.0 mV dec^-1 in 1.0 M KOH, respectively), which is superior to that of commercial Pt/C (21 mV and 28.5 mV dec^-1 in 0.5 M H₂SO₄, 55 mV and 44.0 mV dec^-1 in 1.0 M KOH, respectively). Importantly, this composite also exhibits long-term stability in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ and 1.0 M KOH. The excellent HER performances can be attribute to the interface between Rh and carbon nitride, which downshifts their d-band center positions, tuning the adsorption ability for hydrogen and accelerating the HER kinetics. This work may open up an efficient method to design metal/carbon hybrid for electrocatalysis.

Keywords: Carbon nitride; Hydrogen evolution reaction; Interface; Rhodium.