Xu, S, Yang, L orcid.org/0000-0003-0935-3921, Liu, Y-Z et al. (3 more authors) (2020) Boosting hydrogen evolution performance by using a plasma-sputtered porous monolithic W2C@WC1−x/Mo film electrocatalyst. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 8 (37). pp. 19473-19483. ISSN 2050-7488
Abstract
The establishment of an efficient and economic means of producing hydrogen via electrocatalytic water-splitting will facilitate the extensive commercialization of fuel cells, and the round-the-clock model of electrocatalytic hydrogen production will alleviate the intermittency issue associated with sustainable energy sources. To enable this feature of renewable hydrogen energy, the key point is to develop cheap, large-scale and high-performance hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts as an alternative to noble metals. Here, a simple and robust physically sputtering strategy is reported to massively prepare a porous and defect-enriched W2C@WC1−x film electrocatalyst on carbon cloth (CC) in a W, C and Ar ion plasma atmosphere. The preferential re-sputtering mechanism promotes the loss of activated W and C ions in plasma and extracts more C from plasma, resulting in the ultimate formation of a defective W2C@WC1−x film. The ratio of W2C to WC1−x increased and the particle size decreased when additional nano-scale thickness Mo sublayers were further incorporated. A monolithic and porous W2C@WC1−x/Mo multilayer film as a binder-free electrocatalyst on flexible CC is created. It exhibits excellent HER performance with a low overpotential of 58 mV vs. RHE to drive a current density of −10 mA cm−2, a low Tafel slope of 41 mV dec−1 and over 6 days of long-term running stability in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution. It outperforms most of the recently reported outstanding non-noble metal electrocatalysts. This work sheds light on a new route to regulate the tungsten-carbide catalyst morphology and composition with an aim to boost its HER activity.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © the Royal Society of Chemistry. This is an author produced version of an article published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Mechanical Engineering (Leeds) > Institute of Functional Surfaces (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 28 Aug 2020 12:27 |
Last Modified: | 25 Aug 2021 00:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Royal Society of Chemistry |
Identification Number: | 10.1039/d0ta05251e |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:164895 |