Atomically isolated nickel species anchored on graphitized carbon for efficient hydrogen evolution electrocatalysis.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 26861684.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms10667 and PMC identifier 4749971.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Hydrogen production through electrochemical process is at the heart of key renewable energy technologies including water splitting and hydrogen fuel cells. Despite tremendous efforts, exploring cheap, efficient and durable electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution still remains as a great challenge. Here we synthesize a nickel-carbon-based catalyst, from carbonization of metal-organic frameworks, to replace currently best-known platinum-based materials for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. This nickel-carbon-based catalyst can be activated to obtain isolated nickel atoms on the graphitic carbon support when applying electrochemical potential, exhibiting highly efficient hydrogen evolution performance with high exchange current density of 1.2 mA cm(-2) and impressive durability. This work may enable new opportunities for designing and tuning properties of electrocatalysts at atomic scale for large-scale water electrolysis.