Liu Bin, He Bin, Peng Hui-Qing, Zhao Yufei, Cheng Junye, Xia Jing, Shen Jianhua, Ng Tsz-Wai, Meng Xiangmin, Lee Chun-Sing, Zhang Wenjun
Center of Super-Diamond and Advanced Films (COSDAF) & Department of Materials Science and Engineering City University of Hong Kong Tat Chee Avenue Kowloon Hong Kong China.
College of New Materials and New Energies Shenzhen Technology University Shenzhen 515118 Guangdong China.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2018 Jun 20;5(8):1800406. doi: 10.1002/advs.201800406. eCollection 2018 Aug.
Development of high-performance and cost-effective non-noble metal electrocatalysts is pivotal for the eco-friendly production of hydrogen through electrolysis and hydrogen energy applications. Herein, the synthesis of an unconventional nickel nitride nanostructure enriched with nitrogen vacancies (NiN ) through plasma-enhanced nitridation of commercial Ni foam (NF) is reported. The self-supported NiN /NF electrode can deliver a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity competitive to commercial Pt/C catalyst in alkaline condition (i.e., an overpotential of 55 mV at 10 mA cm and a Tafel slope of 54 mV dec), which is much superior to the stoichiometric NiN, and is the best among all nitride-based HER electrocatalysts in alkaline media reported thus far. Based on theoretical calculations, it is further verified that the presence of nitrogen vacancies effectively enhances the adsorption of water molecules and ameliorates the adsorption-desorption behavior of intermediately adsorbed hydrogen, which leads to an advanced HER activity of NiN /NF.
开发高性能且具有成本效益的非贵金属电催化剂对于通过电解实现环保制氢及氢能应用至关重要。在此，报道了通过对商用泡沫镍（NF）进行等离子体增强氮化合成富含氮空位的非常规氮化镍纳米结构（NiN ）。自支撑的NiN /NF电极在碱性条件下能够展现出与商用Pt/C催化剂相当的析氢反应（HER）活性（即，在10 mA cm时过电位为55 mV，塔菲尔斜率为54 mV dec），这远优于化学计量比的NiN，并且是迄今为止报道的所有碱性介质中基于氮化物的HER电催化剂中性能最佳的。基于理论计算，进一步证实了氮空位的存在有效地增强了水分子的吸附，并改善了中间吸附氢的吸附-解吸行为，从而导致NiN /NF具有优异的HER活性。
