Highly active electrocatalyst cobalt-carbide nanoparticles synthesized by wet-chemistry method for hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Hydrogen is a promising alternative energy without greenhouse gas emissions Since the transition metal carbides (TMCs) exhibited similarly electronic properties with noble metal platinum they are considered sustainable alternatives to noble metals in catalysis Among the TMCs CoxC (x=2 3) nanoparticles (NPs) can act as an excellent electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by water splitting In our report CoxC nanocomposites were synthesized by wet chemistry method using Cobalt (II) acetate sodium hydroxide as precursors and triethylene glycol (TEG) as solvent In addition Co2C NPs were synthesized by similar wet chemistry method using Cobalt (II) acetate as precursors and TEG oleylamine (OAm) as solvent The cobalt carbide NPs exhibited high electrocatalytic activity CoxC nanocomposites performed a -0 33V onset potential and 91mV/dec tafel slope while the Co2C NPs exhibited a better performance of -0 27V and 60mV/dec respectively

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English
Supervisor	Jow-Lay Huang (Supervisor)