Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan.
Nanoscale. 2018 Jun 14;10(23):11072-11078. doi: 10.1039/c7nr09475b.
Desigining advanced materials as electrochemical catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) has caught great attention owing to the growing demand for clean and renewable energy. Nickel (Ni)-based compounds and alloys are promising non-noble-metal electrocatalysts due to their low cost and high activity. However, in most cases, Ni-based compounds and alloys have low durability in acid electrolyte, which limits their application in the electrolytic processes. In this study, monoclinic Ge12Ni19 nanoparticles were synthesized and exhibited high electrocatalytic activity and stability for the HER in acidic solution. Ge12Ni19 nanoparticles achieve an overpotential of 190 mV at cathodic current density of 10 mA cm-2 and a Tafel slope of 88.5 mV per decade in 0.50 M H2SO4 electrolyte. Moreover, the performance is maintained after a 10 000-cycle CV sweep (-0.3 to +0.1 V vs. RHE) or under a static overpotential of -0.7 V vs. RHE for 24 hours. The reported electrocatalytic performance of the Ge12Ni19 nanoparticles sufficiently proves the excellent endurance at lower required active overpotentials in acidic solution, enabling the broad applications of the Ni-based electrocatalysts. Finally, a large-area (5 cm2) electrocatalyst for HER was demonstrated for the first time. The great efficiency of the energy conversion performance sufficiently represented the potential of Ge12Ni19 nanoparticles as electrocatalysts in commercial fuel cells.
设计用于析氢反应 (HER) 的电化学催化剂的先进材料由于对清洁和可再生能源的需求不断增长而受到极大关注。由于成本低、活性高，镍 (Ni) 基化合物和合金是非贵金属电催化剂的有前途的选择。然而，在大多数情况下，Ni 基化合物和合金在酸性电解质中的耐久性较低，这限制了它们在电解过程中的应用。在这项研究中，合成了单斜 Ge12Ni19 纳米颗粒，其在酸性溶液中对 HER 表现出高电催化活性和稳定性。Ge12Ni19 纳米颗粒在 0.50 M H2SO4 电解质中，在阴极电流密度为 10 mA cm-2 时的过电势为 190 mV，塔菲尔斜率为 88.5 mV/decade。此外，在 10,000 次 CV 扫掠（-0.3 至 +0.1 V 相对于 RHE）或在 0.7 V 静态过电势下保持 24 小时后，性能保持不变。报道的 Ge12Ni19 纳米颗粒的电催化性能充分证明了在酸性溶液中较低所需活性过电势下的优异耐久性，使 Ni 基电催化剂的广泛应用成为可能。最后，首次展示了用于 HER 的大面积（5 cm2）电催化剂。能量转换性能的高效率充分代表了 Ge12Ni19 纳米颗粒作为商用燃料电池中电催化剂的潜力。
