Cobalt-Tungsten-Boron as an Active Electrocatalyst for Water Electrolysis

摘要

abstract_textpElectrochemically splitting water to produce clean hydrogen fuel requires high-performance electrocatalysts. Here, we report transition metal-boron alloy Co-W-B is an active electrocatalyst for water electrolysis. The Co-W-B catalyst can be readily deposited on nickle foam (NF) using a simple electroless plating method. A combination of phase/chemical state/microstructural analyses of the Co-W-B electrocatalyst was conducted using XRD, TEM, Raman spectroscopy and XPS techniques. The properly annealed Co-W-B/NF catalyst with an optimal composition exhibits a low overpotential along with a high stability for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline solution, which is among the best reported levels for non-noble HER catalysts. In addition, the Co-W-B/NF catalyst also shows moderate activity towards the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). These study results highlight the potential of transition metal-boron alloys as high-performance and low-cost electrocatalyst for water splitting./p/abstract_text