title: The Influence of Elastic Strain on Catalytic Activity in the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.
abstract: Understanding the role of elastic strain in modifying catalytic reaction rates is crucial for catalyst design, but experimentally, this effect is often coupled with a ligand effect. To isolate the strain effect, we have investigated the influence of externally applied elastic strain on the catalytic activity of metal films in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). We show that elastic strain tunes the catalytic activity in a controlled and predictable way. Both theory and experiment show strain controls reactivity in a controlled manner consistent with the qualitative predictions of the HER volcano plot and the d-band theory: Ni and Pt's activities were accelerated by compression, while Cu's activity was accelerated by tension. By isolating the elastic strain effect from the ligand effect, this study provides a greater insight into the role of elastic strain in controlling electrocatalytic activity.
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.
authors.forename: Tuhina Adit
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Maark
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khorshidi
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.
authors.forename: Vijay A
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4624-1355
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Sethuraman
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA. andrew_peterson@brown.edu.
authors.forename: Andrew A
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2855-9482
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA. pradeep_guduru@brown.edu.
authors.forename: Pradeep R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Guduru
keywords: catalytic activity; elastic strain; electrocatalysis; hydrogen evolution