TY - JOUR
T1 - Highly Active, Nonprecious Electrocatalyst Comprising Borophene Subunits for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
AU - Chen, Yanli
AU - Yu, Guangtao
AU - Chen, Wei
AU - Liu, Yipu
AU - Li, Guo Dong
AU - Zhu, Pinwen
AU - Tao, Qiang
AU - Li, Qiuju
AU - Liu, Jingwei
AU - Shen, Xiaopeng
AU - Li, Hui
AU - Huang, Xuri
AU - Wang, Dejun
AU - Asefa, Tewodros
AU - Zou, Xiaoxin
N1 - Funding Information:
X. Zou thanks the support of NSFC 21401066 and National Key R&D Program of China, Grant No. 2017YFA0207800. W. Chen and G. Yu thank the financial support from NSFC 21673093 and 21673094, Jilin Province S&T Development Plan 20170101175JC and S&T Research Program of Education Department JJKH20170780KJ. Y. Chen thanks the support of NSFC 21601062. D. Wang acknowledges the support of NBRP 2013CB632403. T. Asefa acknowledges the financial assistance of the US NSF, Grant No. DMR-1508611.
PY - 2017/9/13
Y1 - 2017/9/13
N2 - Developing nonprecious hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts that can work well at large current densities (e.g., at 1000 mA/cm2: a value that is relevant for practical, large-scale applications) is of great importance for realizing a viable water-splitting technology. Herein we present a combined theoretical and experimental study that leads to the identification of α-phase molybdenum diboride (α-MoB2) comprising borophene subunits as a noble metal-free, superefficient electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Our theoretical finding indicates, unlike the surfaces of Pt- and MoS2-based catalysts, those of α-MoB2 can maintain high catalytic activity for HER even at very high hydrogen coverage and attain a high density of efficient catalytic active sites. Experiments confirm α-MoB2 can deliver large current densities in the order of 1000 mA/cm2, and also has excellent catalytic stability during HER. The theoretical and experimental results show α-MoB2's catalytic activity, especially at large current densities, is due to its high conductivity, large density of efficient catalytic active sites and good mass transport property.
AB - Developing nonprecious hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts that can work well at large current densities (e.g., at 1000 mA/cm2: a value that is relevant for practical, large-scale applications) is of great importance for realizing a viable water-splitting technology. Herein we present a combined theoretical and experimental study that leads to the identification of α-phase molybdenum diboride (α-MoB2) comprising borophene subunits as a noble metal-free, superefficient electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Our theoretical finding indicates, unlike the surfaces of Pt- and MoS2-based catalysts, those of α-MoB2 can maintain high catalytic activity for HER even at very high hydrogen coverage and attain a high density of efficient catalytic active sites. Experiments confirm α-MoB2 can deliver large current densities in the order of 1000 mA/cm2, and also has excellent catalytic stability during HER. The theoretical and experimental results show α-MoB2's catalytic activity, especially at large current densities, is due to its high conductivity, large density of efficient catalytic active sites and good mass transport property.
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U2 - 10.1021/jacs.7b06337
DO - 10.1021/jacs.7b06337
M3 - Article
C2 - 28686430
AN - SCOPUS:85029482778
VL - 139
SP - 12370
EP - 12373
JO - Journal of the American Chemical Society
JF - Journal of the American Chemical Society
SN - 0002-7863
IS - 36
ER -