Abstract
Pt-free electrocatalysts with high activity and low cost are highly pursued for hydrogen production by electrochemically splitting water. Ni-based alloy catalysts are potential candidates for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and have been studied extensively. Here, we synthesized novel hollow core-shell structure Ni-Sn@C nanoparticles (NPs) by sol-gel, chemical vapor deposition, and etching processes. The prepared electrocatalysts with porous hollow carbon layers have a high conductivity and large active area, which exhibit good electrocatalytic activity toward HER. The Tafel slope of ∼35 millivolts per decade measured in acidic solution for Ni-Sn@C NPs is the smallest one to date for the Ni-Sn alloy catalysts, and exceeds those of the most non-noble metal catalysts, indicating a possible Volmer-Heyrovsky reaction mechanism. The synthetic method can be extended to prepare other hollow core-shell structure electrocatalysts for low-temperature fuel cells.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 9098-9102 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 17 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 6 May 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Core-shell structure
- Electrocatalysis
- Hydrogen evolution reaction
- Ni-Sn
- Porous carbon
