Facile Fabrication of Bifunctional Hydrogen Catalytic Electrodes for Long-Life Nickel–Hydrogen Gas Batteries

Abstract

The renaissance of long-lasting nickel–hydrogen gas (Ni–H2) battery by developing efficient, robust, and affordable hydrogen anode to replace Pt is particularly attractive for large-scale energy storage applications. Here, we demonstrate an extremely facile corrosion induced fabrication approach to achieve a self-supporting hydrogen evolution/oxidation reaction (HER/HOR) bifunctional nanosheet array electrode for Ni–H2 battery. The electrode is constituted by ultrafine Ru nanoparticles on Ni­(OH)2 nanosheets grown on nickel foam. Experimental and theoretical calculation results reveal that the electrode with optimized geometric and electronic structures ensures the efficient and robust catalytic hydrogen activities. The fabricated Ni–H2 battery using the Ru–Ni­(OH)2/NF anode with an industrial scale areal capacity of 16 mAh cm–2 demonstrates a high energy density, good rate capability and excellent durability without capacity decay over 1800 h. This study casts light on the development of low manufacturing cost and high performance bifunctional hydrogen catalytic electrodes for future hydrogen energy applications.

Descriptor-Driven Computational Design of Bifunctional Double-Atom Hydrogen Evolution and Oxidation Reaction Electrocatalysts for Rechargeable Hydrogen Gas Batteries

“…However, the utilization of costly platinum catalysts for the H 2 electrode in those RHGBs impedes their widespread applications. 6,12 It is highly desirable yet very challenging to explore low-cost bifunctional electrocatalysts with high catalytic HER/HOR performance to promote the practical large-scale energy storage applications of RHGBs.…”

“…6 Such a success prompted us to further explore low-cost catalysts for RHGBs in large-scale energy storage. 12 In addition to alloy-based catalysts, single-atom catalysts (SACs) demonstrate excellent performance in various reactions because of their high catalytic activity and significantly reduced metal content with lower costs. 16,17 Compared with SACs, double-atom catalysts (DACs) possess similar characteristics, which are able to have better catalytic performance for some reactions involving a variety of intermediates, such as HER/HOR in alkaline conditions.…”

“…Recently, new hydrogen gas batteries and capacitors with high electrochemical performance have been developed, such as manganese–hydrogen gas battery, hydrogen gas–proton battery, lithium manganese oxide–hydrogen gas battery, and carbon–hydrogen gas capacitor, which demonstrated great promise for all-climate (−80 to 60 °C) large-scale energy storage applications. However, the utilization of costly platinum catalysts for the H 2 electrode in those RHGBs impedes their widespread applications. , It is highly desirable yet very challenging to explore low-cost bifunctional electrocatalysts with high catalytic HER/HOR performance to promote the practical large-scale energy storage applications of RHGBs.…”

“…Important advancements have been made over the past few decades regarding non-noble transition metal catalysts for HER or HOR in both experimental and theoretical perspectives. − Previously, Chen and co-workers successfully prepared a nickel–molybdenum–cobalt alloy based bifunctional HER/HOR electrocatalyst and realized its application in advanced nickel–hydrogen gas batteries, exhibiting great promise for practical large-scale energy storage with low estimated cost of ∼ $83 per kilowatt-hour, which is lower than the United States Department of Energy target for grid storage in 2025 ($100 per kilowatt-hour) . Such a success prompted us to further explore low-cost catalysts for RHGBs in large-scale energy storage . In addition to alloy-based catalysts, single-atom catalysts (SACs) demonstrate excellent performance in various reactions because of their high catalytic activity and significantly reduced metal content with lower costs. , Compared with SACs, double-atom catalysts (DACs) possess similar characteristics, which are able to have better catalytic performance for some reactions involving a variety of intermediates, such as HER/HOR in alkaline conditions. − However, because of the diversity of elemental compositions, the discovery of DACs by traditional trial-and-error experimentation is time-consuming and resource-wasting.…”

In Situ Dynamic Construction of a Copper Tin Sulfide Catalyst for High-Performance Electrochemical CO2 Conversion to Formate

“…The high-resolution XPS spectra of Sn 3d for the precatalyst show two characteristic peaks at the binding energy of 495.7 and 487.3 eV with a separation of 8.4 eV (Figure g), which can be assigned to Sn 3d 3/2 and Sn 3d 5/2 , respectively, − suggesting the Sn 4+ state in the precatalyst. The Cu 2p spectrum exhibits four obvious peaks of Cu 2p 1/2 (951.7, 952.5 eV) and Cu 2p 3/2 (931.8, 932.6 eV) with a separation of 19.9 eV, indicating the +2 and +1 oxidation states of Cu species for Cu 2 SnS 3 and CuS in the precatalyst, respectively (Figure h). ,− The high-resolution S 2p spectrum can be deconvoluted into two components, corresponding to S 2p 1/2 (163.1 eV) and S 2p 3/2 (161.7 eV) (Figure i). ,, Additionally, the elemental ratio of the precatalyst was also investigated by ICP-MS characterization, in which the atomic ratios of Cu/Sn and S/Sn are close to 2 and 3, respectively. (Figure S2, Supporting Information).…”