TY - JOUR
T1 - Fe-Cu-Rh ternary alloy nanofibers as an outstanding pH-universal electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction
T2 - The catalytic roles of Fe depending on pH
AU - Nam, Yoonhee
AU - Jin, Dasol
AU - Lee, Chongmok
AU - Lee, Youngmi
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was financially supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT or by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2020R1A2B5B01001984, NRF-2018R1A6A1A03025340 and NRF-2022R1F1A1062824).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2023/2/15
Y1 - 2023/2/15
N2 - Fe-Cu-Rh ternary alloy nanofibers having various elemental compositions (x-Fe@Cu-Rh) were synthesized through the thermal hydrogen reduction of Fe-substituted CuRh2O4 nanofibers, which were prepared by electrospinning of a solution containing Cu and Rh precursors at a constant molar ratio (Cu:Rh = 1:2) with varying Fe precursor wt% (x = 6, 12, 24, 48 and 80). A series of x-Fe@Cu-Rh nanofibers were composed of the phases of metallic (fcc) and/or spinel CuRh2O4 where Fe ion substitutes primarily Rh ion in the octahedral site. x-Fe@Cu-Rh ternary alloy nanofibers showed higher pH-universal HER activity than pure Rh and Cu-Rh binary counterparts; and particularly, 12-Fe@Cu-Rh composed of 7.3, 27.2 and 65.5 atomic % of Fe, Cu and Rh, respectively, presented a superb activity (e.g., the most positive onset potential and the smallest Tafel slope) along with reasonable stability, even outperforming commercial Pt. The addition of Fe to Cu-Rh binary system improved alkaline HER activity substantially, proposing the crucial role of Fe-Cu-Rh interfaces for facilitating water molecule adsorption/dissociation. In acidic condition, Fe served as an excellent diluent reducing noble Rh content without deteriorating the acidic HER activity. Surprisingly, 80-Fe@Cu-Rh having only 18.5 atomic % of noble Rh exhibited decent HER activity during 24 h, demonstrating its potential as a stable and economic catalyst particularly for acidic HER.
AB - Fe-Cu-Rh ternary alloy nanofibers having various elemental compositions (x-Fe@Cu-Rh) were synthesized through the thermal hydrogen reduction of Fe-substituted CuRh2O4 nanofibers, which were prepared by electrospinning of a solution containing Cu and Rh precursors at a constant molar ratio (Cu:Rh = 1:2) with varying Fe precursor wt% (x = 6, 12, 24, 48 and 80). A series of x-Fe@Cu-Rh nanofibers were composed of the phases of metallic (fcc) and/or spinel CuRh2O4 where Fe ion substitutes primarily Rh ion in the octahedral site. x-Fe@Cu-Rh ternary alloy nanofibers showed higher pH-universal HER activity than pure Rh and Cu-Rh binary counterparts; and particularly, 12-Fe@Cu-Rh composed of 7.3, 27.2 and 65.5 atomic % of Fe, Cu and Rh, respectively, presented a superb activity (e.g., the most positive onset potential and the smallest Tafel slope) along with reasonable stability, even outperforming commercial Pt. The addition of Fe to Cu-Rh binary system improved alkaline HER activity substantially, proposing the crucial role of Fe-Cu-Rh interfaces for facilitating water molecule adsorption/dissociation. In acidic condition, Fe served as an excellent diluent reducing noble Rh content without deteriorating the acidic HER activity. Surprisingly, 80-Fe@Cu-Rh having only 18.5 atomic % of noble Rh exhibited decent HER activity during 24 h, demonstrating its potential as a stable and economic catalyst particularly for acidic HER.
KW - Electrospinning
KW - Hydrogen evolution reaction
KW - Iron-copper-rhodium ternary alloy
KW - Nanofiber
KW - pH-universal electrocatalyst
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85142279820&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2022.155484
DO - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2022.155484
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85142279820
SN - 0169-4332
VL - 611
JO - Applied Surface Science
JF - Applied Surface Science
M1 - 155484
ER -