The world energy consumption is mainly based on hydrocarbon fuels which is depleting, and the related carbon dioxide emission contributes greatly to global warming. Alternative clean energy sources are thus required for the development of sustainable environment and society. As a promising carbon-neutral fuel alternative, hydrogen energy has gained great interest over the past decades and clean and sustainable production of hydrogen is crucial for future hydrogen energy technologies. Among various approaches, electrochemical water splitting has gained a lot of interest due to its production of high purity hydrogen and high process flexibility. But a large-scale application of this technology needs efficient and cost-effective electrocatalysts. Herein, a tungsten–nickel/nickel foam hybrid is prepared by a facile method and exhibits an outstanding hydrogen evolution reaction activity and remarkable stability in alkaline solution. It only requires an overpotential of 36 mV to afford the current density of 10 mA cm–2 with a small Tafel slope of 43 mV dec–1. Owing to the excellent electrocatalytic performance arising from the synergistic effect of binary tungsten–nickel interacting through the d-orbital electron transfer, the as-prepared material is the best among tungsten-based HER electrocatalysts. The lower adsorption energy of water molecules and a small Gibbs free energy of hydrogen adsorption (0.17 eV) on tungsten atoms of WNi (111) from DFT calculations reveal the favorable water electrolysis kinetics. Moreover, the simple preparation strategy can be extended to design of other active materials for clean energy technology applications and beyond.

Earth-abundant tungsten–nickel alloy electrocatalyst for superior hydrogen evolution

256th National Meeting (2018)

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