Highly porous non-precious bimetallic electrocatalysts for efficient hydrogen evolution

A robust and efficient non-precious metal catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction is one of the key components for carbon dioxide-free hydrogen production. Here we report that a hierarchical nanoporous copper-titanium bimetallic electrocatalyst is able to produce hydrogen from water under a mild overpotential at more than twice the rate of state-of-the-art carbon-supported platinum catalyst. Although both copper and titanium are known to be poor hydrogen evolution catalysts, the combination of these two elements creates unique copper-copper-titanium hollow sites, which have a hydrogen-binding energy very similar to that of platinum, resulting in an exceptional hydrogen evolution activity. In addition, the…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 1350911, CAREER
• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Awards: DE-FG02-, DE-FG02-13ER16381, DE-FG02
• NA
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  Award: NNX11AQ29A
• UO
  University of Delaware Research Foundation
• UO
  University of Delaware
• OO
  Office of Science

  Award: DE-FG02-13ER16381
• DO
  Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems

  Award: CBET-1350911
• LB
  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory