Palladium - silicon nanocomposites as a stable electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Kui Yin; Yafei Cheng; Binbin Jiang; Fan Liao; Mingwang Shao

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2018.03.045

Palladium - silicon nanocomposites as a stable electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2018 Jul 15:522:242-248. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.03.045. Epub 2018 Mar 15.

Authors

Kui Yin¹, Yafei Cheng¹, Binbin Jiang¹, Fan Liao¹, Mingwang Shao²

Affiliations

¹ Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, PR China.
² Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, PR China. Electronic address: mwshao@suda.edu.cn.

PMID: 29604442
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.03.045

Abstract

Pd nanoparticles grown in-situ on the surface of silicon nanowires (Pd-SiNW nanocomposites) were employed as electrocatalysts in hydrogen evolution reaction and exhibited satisfactory catalytic performance. Here, SiNWs served as the carrier with vast surface area. It is interesting to note that Pd-SiNW nanocomposites were more stable for hydrogen evolution reaction than the commercial Pt/C catalysts, which might be attributed to the three-dimensional crisscrossing structure of the composites and the strong interaction between Pd and Si. The strong interaction is due to the low lattice mismatch in the epitaxial growth of Pd particles on the surface of Si. Such special structure and interaction help to tightly hold Pd nanoparticles, which could avoid the loss of catalysts and keep the catalyst from being agglomerated and growing large.

Keywords: Durability; Electrocatalysis; Hydrogen evolution reaction; Palladium nanoparticles; Silicon nanowires.