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Unexpected Correlation Between Boron Chain Condensation and Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) Activity in Highly Active Vanadium Borides: Enabling Predictions
Author(s) -
Lee Eunsoo,
Park Hyounmyung,
Joo Hyunkeun,
Fokwa Boniface P. T.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.202000154
Subject(s) - overpotential , vanadium , boron , materials science , condensation , transition metal , inorganic chemistry , thermodynamics , chemistry , electrochemistry , catalysis , metallurgy , organic chemistry , electrode , physics
Transition‐metal borides (TMBs) have recently attracted attention as excellent hydrogen evolution (HER) electrocatalysts in bulk crystalline materials. Herein, we show for the first time that VB and V 3 B 4 have high electrocatalytic HER activity. Furthermore, we show that the HER activity (in 0.5 m H 2 SO 4 ) increases with increasing boron chain condensation in vanadium borides: Using a −23 mV overpotential decrement derived from −0.296 mV (for VB at −10 mA cm −2 current density) and −0.273 mV (for V 3 B 4 ) we accurately predict the overpotential of VB 2 (−0.204 mV) as well as that of unstudied V 2 B 3 (−0.250 mV) and hypothetical “V 5 B 8 ” (−0.227 mV). We then derived an exponential equation that predicts the overpotentials of known and hypothetical V x B y phases containing at least a boron chain. These results provide a direct correlation between crystal structure and HER activity, thus paving the way for the design of even better electrocatalytic materials through structure–activity relationships.