Boosting Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Via Partial Oxidation of Re Through Co Modification in Nanoalloy Structure

Abstract

The theoretical electrocatalytic activity of rhenium (Re) for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is comparable to platinum, however, the experimental HER performance of the reported Re-based electrocatalysts are still unsatisfactory. Herein, we demonstrate the boosted electrocatalytic activity of Re for HER by embedding Re3Co2 nanoalloy in nitrogen doped carbon film (Re3Co2@NCF). The Re3Co2@NCF electrocatalyst exhibited impressive HER performance with overpotential to reach current density of 10 mA cm-2 as low as 30 mV. In addition, Re3Co2@NCF also showed excellent stability at current density of 150 mA cm-2 for several days. Mechanism investigations authenticated that alloying Co with Re remodeled the electronic structure of metals and led to superficial metal atoms partially oxidized, which provided a balance for different intermediates adsorption/desorption and thereafter boosted the intrinsic HER activity of Re. This work improves the electrocatalytic performance of Re to its theoretical activity, which will endow Re-based electrocatalysts with a bright future.

Keywords: Rhenium, Nanoalloys, Surface oxidation, Hydrogen evolution reaction