Amine-Modulated/Engineered Interfaces of NiMo Electrocatalysts for Improved Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Alkaline Solutions

  • Wei Gao
  • , Wangyan Gou
  • , Xuemei Zhou
  • , Johnny C. Ho*
  • , Yuanyuan Ma
  • , Yongquan Qu
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The interface between electrolytes and electrocatalysts would largely determine their corresponding activity and stability. Herein, modulating the surface characteristics of NiMo nanoparticles by various adsorbed amines gives the tunability on their interfacial properties and subsequently improves their catalytic performance for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline solutions. Diamines can significantly improve their HER activity by decreasing the charge-transfer resistance and modulating the electronic structures of interfacial active sites. Importantly, among various amines, ethylenediamine facilitates the HER activity of NiMo with a remarkable decrease of 268 mV in the overpotential to reach 10 mA cm-2 as compared with that of the unmodified NiMo in 1.0 M KOH. This method provides a novel strategy of regulating the interfacial properties to strengthen the catalytic performance of electrocatalysts.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1728-1733
Number of pages6
JournalACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Volume10
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 17 Jan 2018
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • NiMo
  • electrocatalysis
  • hydrogen evolution
  • interface engineering
  • surface modulation

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