Regulating Water Reduction Kinetics on MoP Electrocatalysts Through Se Doping for Accelerated Alkaline Hydrogen Production

Zhenpeng Liu; Zhenpeng Liu; Jun Bu; Wenxiu Ma; Bin Yang; Lei Zhang; Hong Zhong; Shuangming Li; Jian Zhang

doi:10.3389/fchem.2021.737495

Frontiers in Chemistry (Oct 2021)

Regulating Water Reduction Kinetics on MoP Electrocatalysts Through Se Doping for Accelerated Alkaline Hydrogen Production

Zhenpeng Liu,
Zhenpeng Liu,
Jun Bu,
Wenxiu Ma,
Bin Yang,
Lei Zhang,
Hong Zhong,
Shuangming Li,
Jian Zhang

Affiliations

Zhenpeng Liu: State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China
Zhenpeng Liu: Key Laboratory of Special Functional and Smart Polymer Materials of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Department of Advanced Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China
Jun Bu: Key Laboratory of Special Functional and Smart Polymer Materials of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Department of Advanced Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China
Wenxiu Ma: Key Laboratory of Special Functional and Smart Polymer Materials of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Department of Advanced Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China
Bin Yang: State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China
Lei Zhang: Key Laboratory of Special Functional and Smart Polymer Materials of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Department of Advanced Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China
Hong Zhong: State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China
Shuangming Li: State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China
Jian Zhang: Key Laboratory of Special Functional and Smart Polymer Materials of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Department of Advanced Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2021.737495
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 9

Abstract

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Owing to its low cost, high conductivity, and chemical stability, Molybdenum phosphide (MoP) has great potential for electrochemically catalyzing the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Unfortunately, the development of high-activity MoP still remains a grand challenge in alkali-electrolyzers due to its sluggish water reduction kinetics. Here, we demonstrate a novel strategy for regulating the HER kinetics of the MoP nanowire cathode through partially substituting P atoms with Se dopants. In alkaline solutions, the Se-doped MoP (Se-MoP) nanowire cathode exhibits excellent HER performance with a greatly-decreased overpotential of ∼61 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and a Tafel slope of ∼63 mV dec−1, outperforming currently reported MoP-based electrocatalysts. Experimental and theoretical investigations reveal that Se doping not only facilitates the water dissociation on MoP, but also optimize the hydrogen adsorption free energy, eventually speeding up the sluggish alkaline HER kinetics. Therefore, this work paves a new path for designing MoP-based electrocatalyst with high HER performance in alkaline electrolyzers.

Published in Frontiers in Chemistry

ISSN: 2296-2646 (Online)
Publisher: Frontiers Media S.A.
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Science: Chemistry
Website: http://journal.frontiersin.org/journal/chemistry

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