TY - JOUR
T1 - Supported ionic liquid phase-boosted highly active and durable electrocatalysts towards hydrogen evolution reaction in acidic electrolyte
AU - Wang, Qiyou
AU - Gao, Yang
AU - Ma, Zhongyun
AU - Zhang, Yan
AU - Ni, Wenpeng
AU - Younus, Hussein A.
AU - Zhang, Ce
AU - Chen, Zhengjian
AU - Zhang, Shiguo
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Science Press
PY - 2021/3
Y1 - 2021/3
N2 - Platinum is generally known as the most effective electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction because it can greatly lower the overpotential and accelerate the reaction kinetics, while its commercial potential always suffers from scarcity, high cost, low utilization, and poor durability particularly in acidic electrolytes. We herein demonstrate a facile method to improve the hydrogen evolution performance of Pt-based electrocatalysts by simply decorating the-state-of-the-art and commercially available Pt/C with hydrophobic protic ([DBU][NTf2]) or aprotic ([BMIm][NTf2]) ionic liquid. The current densities of [BMIm]@Pt/C and [DBU-H]@Pt/C with 10% ionic liquid at an overpotential of 40 mV are 2.81 and 4.15 times, respectively, higher than that of the pristine Pt/C. More importantly, ionic liquid-decoration significantly improves the long-term stability of Pt nanoparticles. After 8 h of chronoamperometric measurements, [DBU-H]@Pt/C and [BMIm]@Pt/C can still retain 83.7% and 78.3% of their original activity, respectively, which is much higher than that of the pristine Pt/C (24.4%). The improved performance of Pt/C decorated with ionic liquid is considered to arise from the improved proton conductivity (particularly for protic ionic liquid) and hydrophobic microenvironment created by the supported ionic liquid phase. The presence of ionic liquid layer not only de-coordinates H+ from hydronium ions nearby the Pt nanoparticles, but it also protects Pt nanoparticles from dissolution in the acidic media.
AB - Platinum is generally known as the most effective electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction because it can greatly lower the overpotential and accelerate the reaction kinetics, while its commercial potential always suffers from scarcity, high cost, low utilization, and poor durability particularly in acidic electrolytes. We herein demonstrate a facile method to improve the hydrogen evolution performance of Pt-based electrocatalysts by simply decorating the-state-of-the-art and commercially available Pt/C with hydrophobic protic ([DBU][NTf2]) or aprotic ([BMIm][NTf2]) ionic liquid. The current densities of [BMIm]@Pt/C and [DBU-H]@Pt/C with 10% ionic liquid at an overpotential of 40 mV are 2.81 and 4.15 times, respectively, higher than that of the pristine Pt/C. More importantly, ionic liquid-decoration significantly improves the long-term stability of Pt nanoparticles. After 8 h of chronoamperometric measurements, [DBU-H]@Pt/C and [BMIm]@Pt/C can still retain 83.7% and 78.3% of their original activity, respectively, which is much higher than that of the pristine Pt/C (24.4%). The improved performance of Pt/C decorated with ionic liquid is considered to arise from the improved proton conductivity (particularly for protic ionic liquid) and hydrophobic microenvironment created by the supported ionic liquid phase. The presence of ionic liquid layer not only de-coordinates H+ from hydronium ions nearby the Pt nanoparticles, but it also protects Pt nanoparticles from dissolution in the acidic media.
KW - Hydrophobic
KW - Interface engineering
KW - Protic
KW - Proton conductivity
KW - Pt/C
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087290258&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85087290258&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jechem.2020.06.012
DO - 10.1016/j.jechem.2020.06.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85087290258
SN - 2095-4956
VL - 54
SP - 342
EP - 351
JO - Journal of Energy Chemistry
JF - Journal of Energy Chemistry
ER -