Exploring the role of surface hydrophilicity of non-precious metal N-doped carbon electrocatalysts in electrocatalysis is challenging. Herein we discover an ultra-hydrophilic non-precious carbon electrocatalyst, showing enhanced catalysis efficiency on both gravimetric and areal basis for oxygen reduction reaction due to a high dispersion of active centres.

S1 Nanostructured Ni2P as an Electrocatalyst for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Eric J. Popczun, James R. McKone, Carlos G. Read, Adam J. Biacchi, Alex M. Wiltrout, Nathan S. Lewis,* Raymond E. Schaak* 1 Department of Chemistry and Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802. 2 Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute o...

The present work is a short review of our recent studies on PhotoFuelCells, that is, photoelectrochemical cells which consume a fuel to produce electricity or hydrogen, and presents some unpublished data concerning both electricity and hydrogen production. PhotoFuelCells have been constructed using nanoparticulate titania photoanodes and various cathode electrodes bearing a few different types ...

The light-assisted co-generation of carbon monoxide and hydrogen from carbon dioxide and water is reported. The combination of a homogeneous CO-evolving electrocatalyst and a heterogeneous H(2)-evolving photoelectrode surface provides for tunability of the H(2)/CO ratio. A total Faradaic efficiency of 102 ± 5% and a H(2)/CO ratio of 2:1 were achieved at a low homogeneous catalyst concentration ...

The immobilisation of electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction onto light harvesting semiconductors is proposed to be an important step towards developing more efficient CO2 reduction photoelectrodes. Here, we report a low cost nickel cyclam complex covalently anchored to a metal oxide surface. Using transient spectroscopy we validate the role of surface immobilisation on enhancing the rate of photoe...

In the present study, a step by step process was applied to synthesize bimetallic electrocatalyst (Ru and Pt on VulcanXC-72R). This process can reduce the amount of platinum and increase the gas diffusion electrode (GDE) performance in the cathodic reaction of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Using the impregnation by hydrothermal synthesis method, a series of electrocatalysts ...

Amorphous tungsten phosphide (WP), which has been synthesized as colloidal nanoparticles with an average diameter of 3 nm, has been identified as a new electrocatalyst for the hydrogen-evolution reaction (HER) in acidic aqueous solutions. WP/Ti electrodes produced current densities of -10 mA cm(-2) and -20 mA cm(-2) at overpotentials of only -120 mV and -140 mV, respectively, in 0.50 M H2SO4(aq).

A bis-diphosphine nickel complex with tert-butyl functionalized pendant amines [Ni(P(Cy)(2)N(t-Bu)(2))(2)](2+) has been synthesized. It is a highly active electrocatalyst for the oxidation of hydrogen in the presence of base. The turnover rate of 50 s(-1) under 1.0 atm H(2) at a potential of -0.77 V vs. the ferrocene couple is 5 times faster than the rate reported heretofore for any other synth...

A major impediment to the commercialization of fuel cell technology is the low activity of platinum electrocatalyst used for oxygen reduction. Pt has been alloyed with transition metals like Ni, Co etc, which show higher activity, compared to pure Pt. However, Pt remains, an expensive metal of low abundance, and hence, finding a non-noble-metal alternative is of interest. The overall objective ...

The ability to simultaneously observe surface and bulk changes at the nanometerscale is much desired in materials research. We describe a simultaneous in-situ SEM/ STEM study of the Pt/C electrocatalyst for polymer electrolyte fuel cells in a gaseous atmosphere, which was carried out using a Hitachi HF 3300 60-300 kV cold-FEG TEM equipped with SEM and STEM imaging capability. A gas injection-he...