Thickness controllable and mass produced WC@C@Pt hybrid for efficient hydrogen production

Autor: Xuanhui Qu, Huang Min, Li Xu, Lina Yue, Ping Li, Suo Guoquan, Wei Wang, Kai Xi, Xiaotong Huo, Zhiwei Liu
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Zdroj: Energy Storage Materials. 10:268-274
ISSN: 2405-8297
Popis: Developing new structures of hydrogen-producing catalyst is essential to the development of electrochemical water splitting. Tungsten carbide-based materials have been widely investigated recently as promising supports to platinum (Pt) for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, the loading capacity and the fixed stability of Pt are still the main problems to be faced with. Herein we demonstrate a strategy which can be used for mass-production for preparing a thickness-controllable double core-shell WC@C@Pt structure, based on a half combustion synthesis-carbonation method. By adjusting the carbon content of the precursors, the thickness of carbon layer covering the surface of tungsten carbide and the insertion depth of Pt particles into the carbon layer are controllable during the carbonation process. The carbon layer can fix the platinum particles as well as improve the electrical conductivity. This unique structure maintains a highly efficient and stable catalytic process, leading to its excellent performance for HER with low overpotentials and small Tafel slopes in acidic/alkaline solution. This study provides some guidelines for the large-scale synthesis of nanostructured electrocatalysts.
Databáze: OpenAIRE