Transforming Nature’s Bath Sponge into Stacking Faults-Enhanced Ag Nanorings-Decorated Catalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

The rational design of cost-effective and efficient electrocatalysts for electrochemical water splitting is essential for green hydrogen production. Utilizing nanocatalysts with abundant active sites, high surface area, and deliberate stacking faults is a promising approach for enhancing catalytic efficiency. In this study, we report a simple strategy to synthesize a highly efficient electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) using carbonized luffa cylindrica as a conductive N-doped carbon skeleton decorated with Ag nanorings that are activated by introducing stacking faults. The introduction of stacking faults and the resulting tensile strain into the Ag nanorings results in a significant decrease in the HER overpotential, enabling the use of Ag as an efficient HER electrocatalyst. Our findings demonstrate that manipulating the crystal properties of electrocatalysts, even for materials with intrinsically poor catalytic activity such as Ag, can result in highly efficient catalysts. Further, applying a conductive carbon backbone can lower the quantities of metal needed without compromising the HER activity. This approach opens up new avenues for designing high-performance electrocatalysts with very low metallic content, which could significantly impact the development of sustainable and cost-effective electrochemical water-splitting systems.

Hydrogen production catalysed by atomically precise metal clusters

“…It was found that Au, Ag, Cu and other metal clusters with inert H 2 evolution also display unique electrocatalytic H 2 production activity. 40–42 These metal elements feature relatively cheap prices and high earth reserves, making the study of non-platinum metal electrocatalysis even more valuable for HER.…”

Stoichiometrically optimized eg orbital occupancy of Ni–Co oxide catalysts for Li–air batteries

“…Noble metals remain at the top of the list of high-performing catalysts. 9,10 However, excessive costs limit the practical usage of noble metals and their derivatives in LABs. 11 Numerous low-cost alternatives have shown promising results, such as doped/undoped carbon 12 and derivatives of non-precious transition metals, including their oxides, 13 and sulfides.…”