Review of the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction—A Basic Approach

Abstract

An increasing emphasis on energy storage has resulted in a surge of R&D efforts into producing catalyst materials for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with emphasis on decreasing the usage of platinum group metals (PGMs). Alkaline water electrolysis holds promise for satisfying future energy storage demands, however the intrinsic potential of this technology is impeded by sluggish reaction kinetics. Here, we summarize the latest efforts within alkaline HER electrocatalyst design, where these efforts are divided between three catalyst design strategies inspired by the three prevailing theories describing the pH-dependence of the HER activity. Modifying the electronic structure of a host through codoping and creating specific sites for hydrogen/hydroxide adsorption stand out as promising strategies. However, with the vast amount of possible combinations, emphasis on screening parameters is important. The authors predict that creating a codoped catalyst using the first strategy by screening materials based on their hydrogen, hydroxide and water binding energies, and utilizing the second and third strategies as optimization parameters might yield both active and stable HER catalyst materials. This strategy has the potential to greatly advance the current status of alkaline water electrolysis as an energy storage option.

Recent advances in cobalt-based catalysts for efficient electrochemical hydrogen evolution: a review

“…However, it turns out that there are still some key and challenging issues on the road of hydrogen evolution catalyst exploration. [100][101][102][103][104][105][106] The progress of science will not stop in the future. Therefore, cobalt-based catalysts may encounter various difficulties and problems in the field of hydrogen evolution.…”

Development of Flexible Moisture Sensors Based on the Corrosion and Degradation of Conductive Substrates

“…Ferriday et al explain that in the low coverage of adsorbed hydrogen, an adsorbed hydrogen atom reacts with a proton or water molecule and an electron to create molecular hydrogen and free up one active site. However, at high coverage, there is an increased probability that two hydrogen atoms may adsorb onto neighboring sites, which results in subsequent recombination to form molecular hydrogen and free up two metal sites, 50 which would effectively increase the presence of hydrogen evolution, and thus corrosion.…”

Surface Reconstruction on Uniform Cu Nanodisks Boosted Electrochemical Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia

“…As shown in Figure S16, the desorption energy of NO 2 and NO are 2.45 and 1.83 eV, respectively, indicating that the reaction prefers to proceed to the next step to form *NO and *N. The desorption energy of NH 3 * increased to 0.75 eV, while in alkaline electrolyte, its product is more inclined to ammonium (NH 4 + ) with a negligible desorption obstacle . Obvious higher energy barriers can also be observed for N 2 For the hydrogen evolution reaction, the theoretical results indicate that both Volmer–Heyrovsky and Volmer–Tafel pathway on the perfect surface and the reconstructed surface exhibits large energy barriers …”

“…58 Obvious higher energy barriers can also be observed for N 2 For the hydrogen evolution reaction, the theoretical results indicate that both Volmer−Heyrovsky and Volmer−Tafel pathway on the perfect surface and the reconstructed surface exhibits large energy barriers. 59 In summary, we have developed a facile method for the preparation of uniform Cu nanodisks of 80 nm in diameter and 7 nm of width. Oxygen gas and HDA were used to control the growth of Cu(111) facet.…”