Frontiers in Chemistry (Oct 2020)

PVP/ZIF-8-Derived Zn, Ni Co-loaded N-Doped Porous Carbon as a Catalyst for an Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

  • Yanqiu Jing,
  • Qiang Lei,
  • Gang Hu,
  • Jixian He,
  • Xiao Lei,
  • Fei Wang,
  • Junju Li,
  • Yide Yang,
  • Xuewei Zhang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2020.00723
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8

Abstract

Read online

Exploring catalysts with low cost and excellent performance for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is still a significant challenge. In this work, zeolitic imidazolate framework 8 (ZIF-8), hybridized with polyvinylpyrrolidone, was used to prepare Zn, Ni co-loaded N-doped porous carbon (ZnNi/NPC) via a straightforward absorption and pyrolysis process. The as-prepared ZnNi/NPC was used as a catalyst for the HER. This experiment showed that the porous structure and Ni doping have a significant influence on the HER activity of the catalyst. Compared with Zn/NC and Zn/NPC, ZnNi/NPC exhibits superior HER activity with an overpotential of 198 mV and a Tafel slope of 69.2 mV dec−1. ZnNi/NPC also shows excellent physical and chemical stability during the HER process. Considering the lower cost and excellent HER performance of ZnNi/NPC, this work provides an attractive solution to fabricate non-precious materials and offers a possible new strategy to replace Pt-based electrocatalysts for HER.

Keywords