Heterostructures for ultra-active hydrogen evolution electrocatalysis

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10604854-B2
Application number	US-201514802931-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 17, 2015
Priority date	Jul 17, 2014
Publication date	Mar 31, 2020
Grant date	Mar 31, 2020

Abstract

A cathode for water splitting production includes: (1) a porous substrate; and (2) an electrocatalyst affixed to the porous substrate. The electrocatalyst includes heterostructures of a first material and a second material that partially covers the first material.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrode for water splitting production, comprising:
a porous substrate; and
an electrocatalyst affixed to the porous substrate, the electrocatalyst including hetero structures of a first material and a second material that partially covers the first material,
wherein the first material and the second material include a first metal and a second metal, respectively,
wherein the first metal and the second metal have different oxidation states,
wherein the first metal and the second metal are the same transition metal,
wherein the heterostructures are nanoparticles having sizes in a range from 1 nm to 200 nm, and
wherein the second material includes a third metal that is different from the first metal and the second metal, and the first material does not include the third metal.

2. The electrode of claim 1 , wherein the transition metal is nickel.

3. The electrode of claim 1 , wherein the first metal and the third metal are different transition metals.

4. The electrode of claim 3 , wherein the first metal is nickel, the second metal is nickel, and the third metal is chromium.

5. The electrode of claim 1 , wherein the porous substrate has a porosity in the range of 0.3 to 0.98.

6. The electrode of claim 1 , wherein the porous substrate is a metallic foam or a non-metallic foam.

7. The electrode of claim 1 , wherein the porous substrate is selected from a nickel foam, a copper foam, a carbon foam, a graphite foam, a carbon fiber paper, a carbon nanotube network, a graphene foam, a titanium foam, and an aluminum foam.

8. The electrode of claim 1 , wherein the porous substrate defines voids, and the electrocatalyst is disposed in the voids of the porous substrate.

9. The electrode of claim 1 , wherein the first metal has an oxidation state of 0, and the second metal has an oxidation state of +2.

10. The electrode of claim 1 , wherein the first metal has an oxidation state of 0, the second metal has an oxidation state of +2, and the third metal has an oxidation state of +3.

11. The electrode of claim 4 , wherein the first metal is nickel having an oxidation state of 0, the second metal is nickel having an oxidation state of +2, and the third metal is chromium having an oxidation state of +3.

12. The electrode of claim 4 , wherein the second material includes an oxide of the second metal and an oxide of the third metal.

13. The electrode of claim 1 , wherein each heterostructure includes a core of the first material and an incomplete shell of the second material partially covering the core of the first material, the incomplete shell includes an oxide of the second metal and an oxide of the third metal, and the oxide of the second metal and the oxide of the third metal are segregated into separate domains.

14. An electrode for water splitting production, comprising:
a porous substrate; and
an electrocatalyst affixed to the porous substrate, the electrocatalyst including heterostructures of a first material and a second material that partially covers the first material, wherein each heterostructure includes a core of the first material and an incomplete shell of the second material partially covering the core of the first material, the core includes a first metal that is nickel having an oxidation state of 0, the incomplete shell includes an oxide of a second metal and an oxide of a third metal, the third metal is different from the first metal and the second metal, and the core does not include the third metal.

15. The electrode of claim 14 , wherein the second metal is nickel, and the third metal is chromium.

16. The electrode of claim 14 , wherein the hetero structures are nanoparticles having sizes in a range from 1 nm to 200 nm.

17. The electrode of claim 14 , wherein the incomplete shell has a thickness in a range of 1 nm to 2 nm.

18. The electrode of claim 14 , wherein the oxide of the second metal and the oxide of the third metal are segregated into separate domains.

19. The electrode of claim 15 , wherein the core is a nickel core, and the incomplete shell includes nickel oxide and chromium oxide.

20. A water electrolyzer comprising:
an anode;
a cathode; and
a power supply electrically connected to the anode and the cathode,
wherein the cathode includes
(1) a porous substrate; and
(2) an electrocatalyst affixed to the porous substrate, the electrocatalyst including hetero structures of a first material and a second material that partially covers the first material,
wherein the first material and the second material include a first metal and a second metal, respectively,
wherein the first metal and the second metal have different oxidation states,
wherein the first metal and the second metal are the same transition metal, and
wherein the second material includes a third metal that is different from the first metal and the second metal, and the first material does not include the third metal.

21. The water electrolyzer of claim 20 , wherein the transition metal is nickel.

22. The water electrolyzer of claim 20 , wherein the first metal is nickel, the second metal is nickel, and the third metal is chromium.

Assignees

• Univ Leland Stanford Junior

Inventors

• Dai Hongjie
• Gong Ming

Classifications

• C25B1/34

  Simultaneous production of alkali metal hydroxides and chlorine, oxyacids or salts of chlorine, e.g. by chlor-alkali electrolysis · CPC title

• C25B1/04

  by electrolysis of water · CPC title

• C25B11/035

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic

• C25B11/0405

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic

• C25B11/0478 Primary

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic