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Climbing the Hydrogen Evolution Volcano with a NiTi Shape Memory Alloy

Author
Abstract

Alkaline water electrolysis is a sustainable way to produce green hydrogen using renewable electricity. Even though the rates of the cathodic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are 2-3 orders of magnitude less under alkaline conditions than under acidic conditions, the possibility of using non-precious metal catalysts makes alkaline HER appealing. We identify a novel and facile route for substantially improving HER performance via the use of commercially available NiTi shape memory alloys, which upon heating undergo a phase transformation from the monoclinic martensite to the cubic austenite structure. While the room-temperature performance is modest, austenitic NiTi outperforms Pt (which is the state-of-the-art HER electrocatalyst) in terms of current density by <=50% at 80 °C. Surface ensembles presented by the austenite phase are computed with density functional theory to bind hydrogen more weakly than either metallic Ni or Ti and to have binding energies ideally suited for HER.

Year of Publication
2024
Journal
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Volume
15
Issue
4
Number of Pages
933-939
Date Published
02/2024
DOI
10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c03216
Dataset
10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c03216
PId
13c3d842767f5ecdb8f2e480f74df813
Alternate Journal
J. Phys. Chem. Lett.
Label
OA
Attachment
Journal Article
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