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Prereduction of Metal Oxides via Carbon Plasma Treatment for Efficient and Stable Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution
Author(s) -
Zhang Yongqi,
Ouyang Bo,
Xu Kun,
Xia Xinhui,
Zhang Zheng,
Rawat Rajdeep Singh,
Fan Hong Jin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201800340
Subject(s) - materials science , nanoclusters , catalysis , oxide , hydrogen , transition metal , annealing (glass) , chemical engineering , nanomaterials , carbon fibers , nanotechnology , metal , plasma , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , metallurgy , composite number , composite material , biochemistry , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , engineering
Abstract Prereduction of transition metal oxides is a feasible and efficient strategy to enhance their catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution. Unfortunately, the prereduction via the common H 2 annealing method is unstable for nanomaterials during the hydrogen evolution process. Here, using NiMoO 4 nanowire arrays as the example, it is demonstrated that carbon plasma (C‐plasma) treatment can greatly enhance both the catalytic activity and the long‐term stability of transition metal oxides for hydrogen evolution. The C‐plasma treatment has two functions at the same time: it induces partial surface reduction of the NiMoO 4 nanowire to form Ni 4 Mo nanoclusters, and simultaneously deposits a thin graphitic carbon shell. As a result, the C‐plasma treated NiMoO 4 can maintain its array morphology, chemical composition, and catalytic activity during long‐term intermittent hydrogen evolution process. This work may pave a new way for simultaneous activation and stabilization of transition metal oxide‐based electrocatalysts.