Surface SO <sub>x</sub> Species Stabilized Metal–Oxygen Bonds in PtNi Nanoalloy for Highly Efficient and Durable Seawater Hydrogen Production
Abstract
ABSTRACT Regulation of metal–oxygen (M–O) bonds and incorporation of sulfur are promising approaches for designing electrocatalysts for efficient hydrogen production from seawater. However, the durability of these catalysts is limited by the instability of M–O bonds under cathodic conditions and poisoning caused by the uncontrolled introduction of sulfur. In this study, a “killing two birds with one stone” strategy was developed for creating efficient hydrogen production electrocatalysts that involves anchoring PtNi nanoparticles on hydroxyl‐functionalized carbon nanotubes and modifying the surface with SO x species (S‐PtNi/CNTs) via a one‐pot hot‐injection‐combined wet‐chemical synthesis protocol. In this material, hydroxyl‐functionalized CNTs stabilize PtNi through M–O bonding, while SO x species tune the electronic structure of Pt and enhance M–O bond stability. Consequently, S‐PtNi/CNTs exhibits outstanding hydrogen production performance in alkaline seawater, delivering a 5.4‐fold increase in mass activity and a 21‐fold increase in specific activity compared to commercial Pt/C, along with remarkable stability over a 1000‐h operation period. Furthermore, S‐PtNi/CNTs significantly outperform commercial Pt/C in both a photovoltaic‐electrocatalysis electrolyzer and an anion‐exchange‐membrane water electrolysis system. The results of in situ spectroscopy and theoretical calculations confirm that SO x species stabilization of M–O bonds and improved chloride ions resistance are responsible for the superior performance of S‐PtNi/CNTs.
Article Details
Authors (21)
Fei Yu
Yi‐Yuan Wang
State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures & Hubei Longzhong Laboratory & School of Materials Science and Engineering Wuhan University of Technology Wuhan China
Wen‐Jie Pan
State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures & Hubei Longzhong Laboratory & School of Materials Science and Engineering Wuhan University of Technology Wuhan China
Lu Wu
Yu‐Xuan Xiao
School of Chemical Engineering and Technology Sun Yat‐sen University Zhuhai China
Xiong Yang
Bo‐Jun Zeng
State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures & Hubei Longzhong Laboratory & School of Materials Science and Engineering Wuhan University of Technology Wuhan China
Ge Tian
Jia‐Qiang Han
State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures & Hubei Longzhong Laboratory & School of Materials Science and Engineering Wuhan University of Technology Wuhan China
Jie Ying
Yi Lu
Si‐Ming Wu
State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures & Hubei Longzhong Laboratory & School of Materials Science and Engineering Wuhan University of Technology Wuhan China
Wei Geng
College of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Polymer Materials
Ling Shen
Zhi‐Yi Hu
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing & Nanostructure Research Centre (NRC) Wuhan University of Technology Wuhan China
Li‐Ying Wang
State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology Chinese Academy of Sciences Wuhan China
Federico Rosei
Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Trieste University Trieste 34127 Italy
Zhong‐Yong Yuan
Collaborative Innovation Center of Materials Science Nankai University Tianjin China
Hui‐Yuan Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures & Hubei Longzhong Laboratory & School of Materials Science and Engineering Wuhan University of Technology Wuhan China
Fazhou Wang
Xiao‐Yu Yang
State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures & Hubei Longzhong Laboratory & School of Materials Science and Engineering Wuhan University of Technology Wuhan China