Making the hydrogen evolution reaction in polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysers even faster

Although the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is one of the fastest electrocatalytic reactions, modern polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysers require larger platinum loadings (∼0.5–1.0 mg cm −2 ) than those in PEM fuel cell anodes and cathodes altogether (∼0.5 mg cm −2 ). Thus, catalyst o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2016-03, Vol.7 (1), p.10990-10990, Article 10990
Main Authors: Tymoczko, Jakub, Calle-Vallejo, Federico, Schuhmann, Wolfgang, Bandarenka, Aliaksandr S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
119/118
639/301/299
639/638/440/94
639/638/77/886
Catalysis
Copper - chemistry
Electrochemistry
Electrodes
Electrolysis
Electrolytes - chemistry
Humanities and Social Sciences
Hydrogen - chemistry
Membranes, Artificial
multidisciplinary
Platinum - chemistry
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Surface Properties
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Summary:Although the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is one of the fastest electrocatalytic reactions, modern polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysers require larger platinum loadings (∼0.5–1.0 mg cm −2 ) than those in PEM fuel cell anodes and cathodes altogether (∼0.5 mg cm −2 ). Thus, catalyst optimization would help in substantially reducing the costs for hydrogen production using this technology. Here we show that the activity of platinum(111) electrodes towards HER is significantly enhanced with just monolayer amounts of copper. Positioning copper atoms into the subsurface layer of platinum weakens the surface binding of adsorbed H-intermediates and provides a twofold activity increase, surpassing the highest specific HER activities reported for acidic media under similar conditions, to the best of our knowledge. These improvements are rationalized using a simple model based on structure-sensitive hydrogen adsorption at platinum and copper-modified platinum surfaces. This model also solves a long-lasting puzzle in electrocatalysis, namely why polycrystalline platinum electrodes are more active than platinum(111) for the HER. There is substantial research into minimizing platinum use in polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzers. Here, the authors report that the hydrogen evolution activity of platinum(111) electrodes can be significantly enhanced by monolayer amounts of copper, which weaken the binding of hydrogen intermediates.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/ncomms10990