Exploring efficient and cheap electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reactions (HERs) is crucial for the development of several clean-energy technologies. Metalloporphyrins (Fe, Co, Ni) are promising electrocatalysts for hydrogen gas production. However, these complexes are mostly utilized as homogeneous catalysts and exhibit low efficiency and stability due to the loss of metal-nitrogen coordination in the process of electrolysis. Here we report the study of cobalt meso-tetra(4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin-based metal-organic framework (MOF) and amorphous polymer as HER electrocatalysts. These materials are characterized by means of x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrum and their surface areas were determined by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analyses. Linear scanning voltammogram of the MOF and the polymer respectively shows an onset potential of –0.18 and –0.23 V vs. RHE and achieve 12.5 and 7.50 mA/cm2 current density at a potential of –0.5 V vs. RHE for the generation of hydrogen gas in 0.5M H2SO4 aqueous solution. These catalysts both show high durability for 10 hours’ electrolysis. As comparison, the cobalt porphyrin monomer shows onset potential of –0.27 V vs. RHE and exhibits lower current density and stability.

Electrocatalytic generation of hydrogen gas by cobalt porphyrin-based Metal-Organic Framwork (MOF) and amorphous polymer

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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