High Durability and Electrocatalytic Activity Toward Hydrogen Evolution Reaction with Ultralow Rhodium Loading on Titania
Merve Akbayrak, Ahmet M. Önal
Abstract
Herein, we report the synthesis of titania supported Rh(0) nanoparticles (Rh 0 /TiO 2 ) as electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acidic medium. Rhodium nanoparticles with an average particle size of 2.54 nm are found to be well-dispersed on TiO 2 surface. Rh 0 /TiO 2 with very low loading density (3.79 μ g cm −2 ) was attached on the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) by drop-casting method. Electrocatalytic performance of modified GCE was investigated via linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) in 0.5 M aqueous H 2 SO 4 solution after 2000 cycle treatment (Rh 0 /TiO 2 -2000) and it was found that Rh 0 /TiO 2 -2000 on GCE exhibits superior electrocatalytic activity (TOF: 11.45 s −1 at η = 100 mV, η 0 :−28 mV, η 10 mA cm −2 : −37 mV, j 0 : 0.686 mA cm −2 and Tafel slope: 32 Mv dec −1 ). More importantly, it provides outstanding long-term stability (10000 cycles) at room temperature for HER, which makes Rh 0 /TiO 2 -2000 a promising electrocatalyst for hydrogen generation.