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Cobalt‐Tungsten‐Boron as an Active Electrocatalyst for Water Electrolysis
Author(s) -
Cao GuoXuan,
Xu Ning,
Chen ZhengJun,
Kang Qing,
Dai HongBin,
Wang Ping
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chemistryselect
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 2365-6549
DOI - 10.1002/slct.201701459
Subject(s) - electrocatalyst , overpotential , water splitting , catalysis , electrolysis , cobalt , materials science , electrolysis of water , inorganic chemistry , chemical engineering , boron , oxygen evolution , transition metal , tungsten , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , electrochemistry , chemistry , metallurgy , photocatalysis , electrode , engineering , electrolyte , biochemistry , organic chemistry
Electrochemically 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.