TY - JOUR
T1 - Abundant vanadium diboride with graphene-like boron layers for hydrogen evolution
AU - Jothi, Palani R.
AU - Zhang, Y.
AU - Yubuta, K.
AU - Culver, D. B.
AU - Conley, M.
AU - Fokwa, B. P.T.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank UC Riverside (startup fund to B.P.T.F.) for financial support. We acknowledge the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) and the High-Performance Computing Center (HPCC) at UC Riverside for providing computing resources. The XPS data were collected with an instrument acquired through the NSF MRI program (DMR-0958796).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2019/1/28
Y1 - 2019/1/28
N2 - We report on the design of abundant and highly active VB2 for hydrogen production. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have predicted very high HER activity of the graphene-like B-layer, the V-terminated {100} layer, and the mixed V/B-terminated {101} layer of VB2. Bulk samples and nanoparticles of VB2 were synthesized and tested for their HER performance. The results indicate that both bulk and nano-VB2 are active for HER, consistent with theoretical predictions. In addition, the HER activity of VB2 is significantly increased at the nanoscale if compared to the bulk, reaching an overpotential of 192 mV at 10 mA/cm2 current density. Increased surface area and higher density of active sites are responsible for the higher nanoscale activity, making nano-VB2 the best HER boride to date in terms of abundance, stability, and activity in acidic solution.
AB - We report on the design of abundant and highly active VB2 for hydrogen production. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have predicted very high HER activity of the graphene-like B-layer, the V-terminated {100} layer, and the mixed V/B-terminated {101} layer of VB2. Bulk samples and nanoparticles of VB2 were synthesized and tested for their HER performance. The results indicate that both bulk and nano-VB2 are active for HER, consistent with theoretical predictions. In addition, the HER activity of VB2 is significantly increased at the nanoscale if compared to the bulk, reaching an overpotential of 192 mV at 10 mA/cm2 current density. Increased surface area and higher density of active sites are responsible for the higher nanoscale activity, making nano-VB2 the best HER boride to date in terms of abundance, stability, and activity in acidic solution.
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U2 - 10.1021/acsaem.8b01615
DO - 10.1021/acsaem.8b01615
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85064813061
SN - 2574-0962
VL - 2
SP - 176
EP - 181
JO - ACS Applied Energy Materials
JF - ACS Applied Energy Materials
IS - 1
ER -
