TY - JOUR
T1 - Rational design of self-supported Cu@WC core-shell mesoporous nanowires for pH-universal hydrogen evolution reaction
AU - Yao, Mengqi
AU - Wang, Bojun
AU - Sun, Baolong
AU - Luo, Linfei
AU - Chen, Yunjian
AU - Wang, Jianwei
AU - Wang, Ni
AU - Komarneni, Sridhar
AU - Niu, Xiaobin
AU - Hu, Wencheng
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - Cu@WC core-shell nanowires, as the WC-based materials with Pt-like electronic configurations around the Fermi level, have been successfully fabricated via chemical oxidation and electro-reduction processes followed by magnetron sputtering of WC for pH-universal hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The Cu@WC catalyst showed low overpotentials of 92, 119 and 173 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in acidic, alkaline and neutral conditions with high exchange current densities. The core-shell structure was verified to increase the WC's carrier density with the interfacial, strongly delocalised electrons under the external electric potential and matched work functions between Cu and WC preserving the high level of Pt-like electrons in WC. The ΔGH* calculations demonstrated that the lattice mismatch between WC and Cu modifies the atomic and electronic structures of WC and weakens the hydrogen bond during absorption leading to enhanced HER performance. This work provides a deep insight into the WC-based core-shell catalysts for pH-universal HER.
AB - Cu@WC core-shell nanowires, as the WC-based materials with Pt-like electronic configurations around the Fermi level, have been successfully fabricated via chemical oxidation and electro-reduction processes followed by magnetron sputtering of WC for pH-universal hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The Cu@WC catalyst showed low overpotentials of 92, 119 and 173 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in acidic, alkaline and neutral conditions with high exchange current densities. The core-shell structure was verified to increase the WC's carrier density with the interfacial, strongly delocalised electrons under the external electric potential and matched work functions between Cu and WC preserving the high level of Pt-like electrons in WC. The ΔGH* calculations demonstrated that the lattice mismatch between WC and Cu modifies the atomic and electronic structures of WC and weakens the hydrogen bond during absorption leading to enhanced HER performance. This work provides a deep insight into the WC-based core-shell catalysts for pH-universal HER.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.apcatb.2020.119451
DO - 10.1016/j.apcatb.2020.119451
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85089753304
SN - 0926-3373
VL - 280
JO - Applied Catalysis B: Environmental
JF - Applied Catalysis B: Environmental
M1 - 119451
ER -