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Elemental Engineering of High-Charge-Density Boron in Nickel as Multifunctional Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Oxidation and Water Splitting
journal contribution
posted on 2021-06-03, 18:37 authored by Tong Zhang, Fuzhan Song, Yuqin Qian, Hong Gao, Jeremy Shaw, Yi RaoThe
development of efficient and earth-abundant multifunctional
electrocatalysts is challenging yet critical for clean energy systems.
Herein, we present the development of a heteroatom B-doping approach,
namely, B-doped Ni (B-Ni), for multifunctional electrocatalysis. The
B-Ni catalysts exhibited multifunctional activities in an alkaline
solution, including the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen
evolution reaction (OER), and hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR). The
B-Ni catalysts, as both the cathode and the anode, showed outstanding
water splitting performance with cell voltages of 1.62 and 1.74 V
versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) to achieve 10 and 100 mA
cm–2, respectively. Furthermore, the B-Ni catalysts
produced an HOR current density of 0.85 mA cm–2 at
0.1 V versus RHE. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations showed
that the doped B atom can extract electrons from its adjacent Ni site,
resulting in increased charge densities on the B site and a loss of
charge densities on the surrounding Ni atoms. Such charge redistribution
is favorable to the HOR and HER processes. The heteroatom-doping approach
of the B-Ni catalyst provides an alternative strategy for the development
of earth-abundant electrocatalysts in both energy storage and conversion.