Integration of Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Oxide Dots with Au Nanoparticles for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Abstract

Platinum (Pt)-free catalysts play a significant role in renewable energy and water purification. However, their design and synthesis are challenging as they need to satisfy the increasing demands, low cost, and enhanced catalytic performance with high efficiency to effectively replace Pt-based materials. This work reports the enhanced catalytic efficiencies of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in the presence of nitrogen-doped graphene oxide dots (NGODs) for hydrogen evolution in a 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 electrolyte with a Tafel slope of 87 mV dec −1 and an overpotential of 145 mV vs RHE at 10 mA cm −2 . In addition, the hybrid structure reveals the complete removal of organic pollutants with higher catalytic efficiencies as compared to Pt, Pd, and Rh hybrid catalysts. DFT calculations demonstrate that the observed high catalytic activity originates from the oxygen-containing groups present on NGODs and AuNPs. This study may open new avenues for developing scalable and economically viable hybrid systems.

Heavy metal ion detection using green precursor derived carbon dots

“…The crystallinity and graphitic nature of the carbon dots can be identified using X-ray diffractometer (XRD) ( Bogireddy et al., 2021a ). X-ray photoelectron (XPS) ( Reagen et al., 2021 ) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) experiments have been performed to analyze carbon dots' chemical and structural composition ( Bogireddy et al., 2020a ).…”

The Competition between 4-Nitrophenol Reduction and BH4− Hydrolysis on Metal Nanoparticle Catalysts

“…However, the borohydride hydrolysis reaction (BHR, or hydrogen evolution) in neutral and alkaline solutions is relatively slow and requires catalysts, often M 0 -nanoparticles (M 0 -NPs) [ 4 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. The same M 0 -NPs are also used as efficient catalysts for many reductions via BH 4 − [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ], including environmentally essential processes [ 9 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Thus, catalytic reductions via BH 4 − always compete with catalytic hydrolysis, and a significant excess of BH 4 − is commonly required for efficient reductions [ 16 , 22 , 23 ].…”

Size-Dependent Graphene Support for Decorating Gold Nanoparticles as a Catalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction with Machine Learning-Assisted Prediction

“…Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) based on electrochemical water splitting has been considered as a promising process to revolutionize hydrogen production for renewable energy. − Currently, Pt-based materials have been known as one of the most efficient HER electrocatalysts due to their Gibbs free energy of hydrogen adsorption close to zero according to volcano plots. , However, the scarcity and high price of the Pt metal hinder the use in large-scale industries. , Recently, the development of cheap and available metal-based materials including nanoparticles (e.g., Au, Ag, Cu, etc. ) − and transition metal dichalcogenides/phosphides (e.g., NiSe 2 , CoSe 2 , and CoP) − as alternative metal catalysts has attracted great interest.…”