Single-atom (SA) decoration of 1D semimetallic titania nanostructures (STN): a conductive electrode for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution (HER)

一维半金属二氧化钛纳米结构（STN）的单原子（SA）装饰：用于电催化析氢（HER）的导电电极

• 批准号: 521961225
• 负责人: Dr.-Ing. Seyedsina Hejazi, Ph.D.
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: WBP Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2022-12-31 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/521961225?language=en
• 关键词: Single; atom; SA; decoration; 1D

Hydrogen (H2) is the most promising future form of renewable clean energy source. Currently, industrial H2 production is based on reforming natural gas, which uses a high amount of non-renewable energy while producing carbon dioxide. A sustainable and environmentally friendly H2 production approach is electrochemical water splitting. Therefore, enhancing the efficiency and improving the economic aspects of electrochemical water splitting is a primary goal of research worldwide. The presence of a catalyst to minimize the overpotential required for the H2 evolution reaction (HER) is essential to enhance the efficiency of water splitting. Platinum is the most well-known catalyst for HER, mainly due to the fact that it requires very small overpotentials. However, the high cost and scarcity of Pt restrict its prevalent technological use. By designing new catalyst materials for the HER, researchers aim to expand their understanding of the properties and surface structures that govern HER stability and activity. The present research proposal aims at creating a novel and highly defined platform for electrocatalytic hydrogen generation using Single-Atom (SA) decorated Semimetallic Titania-based Nanocavities (STN) as a non-expensive and highly efficient electrode for HER with boosted activity and long-term stability. The key novelty of the proposed approach is the combination of defect-engineered titania-based semimetallic nanostructures with the advanced single-atom decoration strategy to fabricate a platform to be employed as an HER electrode in the green H2 production industry. It is expected that the synergistic effect of three golden features, i.e., i) directional charge transfer in a one-dimensional back contacted (1D) structure, ii) single atom decoration, and iii) surface-exposed Ti3+ centers in an SA-STN assembly, will lead to a boosted HER activity. As a proof of concept, in the last work package of the project, we aim to implant the optimized HER electrode in a commercial polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer, which will provide benchmark information regarding the long-term activity and stability of the electrode in a standard and onsite measurement conditions.

氢（H2）是可再生清洁能源的最有希望的未来形式。目前，工业H2的生产基于改革天然气，该天然气在生产二氧化碳的同时使用了大量的不可再生能源。可持续且对环保的H2生产方法是电化学分解。因此，提高效率并提高电化学水分割的经济方面是全球研究的主要目标。催化剂的存在以最大程度地减少H2进化反应所需的过电势，这对于提高水分的效率至关重要。铂金是她最著名的催化剂，这主要是由于它需要很小的过电势。但是，PT的高成本和稀缺性限制了其普遍的技术使用。通过为她设计新的催化剂材料，研究人员旨在扩大对控制其稳定性和活动的特性和表面结构的理解。本研究建议旨在使用单原子（SA）装饰的半金属钛基纳米腔（STN）创建一个新颖且高度定义的平台，以创建一个非膨胀且高效的电极，以增强活性和长期稳定性。拟议方法的主要新颖性是基于缺陷的二氧化钛的半金属纳米结构与先进的单原子装饰策略的结合，以制造一个平台，可用于绿色H2生产行业的电极。可以预期，三个黄金特征的协同作用，即i）在接触的一维背部（1D）结构，ii）单个原子装饰中的定向电荷转移，以及III）在SA-STN组件中表面暴露的Ti3+中心，将导致其活性。作为概念的证明，在项目的最后一个工作包中，我们旨在将优化的电极植入商业聚合物电解质膜（PEM）电解液中，该电解仪将在标准和现场测量条件下提供有关电极的长期活动和稳定性的基准信息。