Issue 46, 2022

Bismuth–nickel bimetal nanosheets with a porous structure for efficient hydrogen production in neutral and alkaline media

Abstract

Active and durable electrocatalysts are very important for efficient and economically sustainable hydrogen generation via electrocatalytic water splitting. A bismuth–nickel (Bi–Ni) bimetal nanosheet with a mesoporous structure was prepared via a self-template electrochemical in situ process. The Bi–Ni catalyst required overpotentials of 56 mV and 183 mV at 10 mA cm−2 for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), which were close to that of commercial Pt/C in 1.0 M KOH and 1.0 M PBS (pH 7.0), respectively. The electrocatalyst maintained a steady current density during 20 h electrolysis in 1.0 M KOH and 1.0 M PBS (pH 7.0). Density functional theory (DFT) indicated that the alloying effect could induce charge transfer from the Bi atom to Ni atom and thus modulate the d-band centre of Bi–Ni nanosheets, which could efficiently accelerate H* conversion and H2 desorption at the Ni active site. This promotes the HER kinetics. By adopting the Bi84.8Ni15.2 alloy as the cathode to establish a full-cell (IrO2∥Bi84.8Ni15.2) for water splitting in 1.0 M KOH, the required cell voltage was 1.53 V to drive 10 mA cm−2, which was lower than that of the IrO2∥Pt/C electrolyzer (1.64 V@10 mA cm−2).

Graphical abstract: Bismuth–nickel bimetal nanosheets with a porous structure for efficient hydrogen production in neutral and alkaline media

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 8 2022
Accepted
14 10 2022
First published
14 10 2022

Nanoscale, 2022,14, 17210-17221

Bismuth–nickel bimetal nanosheets with a porous structure for efficient hydrogen production in neutral and alkaline media

X. Yu, L. Qu, C. Lee, J. Peng, Q. Yan, H. Bai and M. Yao, Nanoscale, 2022, 14, 17210 DOI: 10.1039/D2NR04407B

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