title: Highly porous non-precious bimetallic electrocatalysts for efficient hydrogen evolution.
abstract: A robust and efficient non-precious metal catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction is one of the key components for carbon dioxide-free hydrogen production. Here we report that a hierarchical nanoporous copper-titanium bimetallic electrocatalyst is able to produce hydrogen from water under a mild overpotential at more than twice the rate of state-of-the-art carbon-supported platinum catalyst. Although both copper and titanium are known to be poor hydrogen evolution catalysts, the combination of these two elements creates unique copper-copper-titanium hollow sites, which have a hydrogen-binding energy very similar to that of platinum, resulting in an exceptional hydrogen evolution activity. In addition, the hierarchical porosity of the nanoporous copper-titanium catalyst also contributes to its high hydrogen evolution activity, because it provides a large-surface area for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution, and improves the mass transport properties. Moreover, the catalyst is self-supported, eliminating the overpotential associated with the catalyst/support interface.
authors.affiliation: 1] Center for Catalytic Science and Technology, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA [2] Department of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Center for Catalytic Science and Technology, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
authors.forename: Gregory S
authors.identifier: 0000000208199654
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Hutchings
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Weiting
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Center for Catalytic Science and Technology, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
authors.forename: Robert V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Forest
authors.affiliation: Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Runzhe
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: Center for Catalytic Science and Technology, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.affiliation: Center for Catalytic Science and Technology, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
authors.forename: Bryan T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Yonemoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
authors.forename: Zeyuan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Haimei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
authors.forename: John Q
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Center for Catalytic Science and Technology, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Jingguang G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Chen