Low-cost and impurity-tolerant electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) are essential for achieving widespread use of water electrolyzers for renewable energy storage and hydrogen fuel cells. In general, platinum group metals are the most active for HER/HOR, but the high cost and scarcity of such metals make them impractical for very large-scale applications. To overcome this obstacle, alternative electrocatalysts that decrease or eliminate the use of Pt are desired. Transition metal carbides (TMCs) have gained attention recently as cost efficient electrocatalysts materials, due to their stability under a wide range of reaction conditions and Pt-like bulk electronic structure. TMCs alone, however, are less active than Pt for the HER/HOR. In the current talk we will present recent results on modifying TMCs with monolayer metals to reduce the loading of Pt-group metals for HER/HOR. We will also demonstrate that Pt-modified TMCs are active and stable HER catalysts in the presence of common impurity ions in tap water.

Metal-modified carbides as low-cost and impurity-tolerant electrocatalysts

252nd National Meeting (2016)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.