Electronic Modulation of Pt Nanoparticles on Ni3N-Mo2C by Support-Induced Strategy for Accelerating Hydrogen Oxidation and Evolution

Yuting Yang; Qiumei Dai; Luyan Shi; Yi Liu; Tayirjan Taylor Isimjan; Xiulin Yang

doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c00021

Electronic Modulation of Pt Nanoparticles on Ni₃N-Mo₂C by Support-Induced Strategy for Accelerating Hydrogen Oxidation and Evolution

J Phys Chem Lett. 2022 Mar 10;13(9):2107-2116. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c00021. Epub 2022 Feb 28.

Authors

Yuting Yang¹, Qiumei Dai¹, Luyan Shi¹, Yi Liu¹, Tayirjan Taylor Isimjan², Xiulin Yang¹

Affiliations

¹ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Low Carbon Energy Materials, School of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, People's Republic of China.
² Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.

PMID: 35225609
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c00021

Abstract

Electrochemical energy conversion and storage through hydrogen has revolutionized sustainable energy systems using fuel cells and electrolyzers. Regrettably, the sluggish alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) hampers advances in fuel cells. Herein, we report a Pt/Ni₃N-Mo₂C bifunctional electrocatalyst toward HOR and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The Pt/Ni₃N-Mo₂C exhibits remarkable HOR/HER performance in alkaline media. The mass activity at 50 mV and exchange current density of HOR are 5.1 and 1.5 times that of commercial Pt/C, respectively. Moreover, it possesses an impressive HER activity with an overpotential of 11 mV @ 10 mA cm^-2, which is lower than that of Pt/C and most reported electrocatalysts under the same conditions. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations combined with experimental results reveal that Pt/Ni₃N-Mo₂C not only possesses an optimal balance between hydrogen binding energy (HBE) and OH^- adsorption but also facilitates water adsorption and dissociation on the catalyst surface, which contribute to the excellent HOR/HER performance. Thus, this work may guide bifunctional HOR/HER catalyst design in the conversion and transport of energy.