Molybdenum/graphene - Based catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction synthesized by a rapid photothermal method

S. S.J. Aravind, Matthew Costa, Victor Pereira, Amos Mugweru, Kandalam Ramanujachary, Timothy D. Vaden

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Catalysis of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is important in the development of an energy economy based on clean hydrogen gas. In this work, we report a new catalyst material for the generation of hydrogen via hydronium reduction. The new material, which consists of MoO2, sulfur, and graphene, was prepared by co-reduction of molybdenum salt and graphite oxide in air in the presence of focused solar radiation. The potential utility of this material for HER catalysis was evaluated by cyclic and linear-sweep voltammograms and compared against a Pt/C commercial catalyst. The MoO 2/graphene hybrid nanocomposite exhibits a Tafel slope of 47 mV/dec and hydrogen evolution at a potential only ∼120 mV more negative than the standard Pt/Carbon catalyst at 10 mA/cm2 current density. The hydrogen gas generated by the catalytic material was measured using gas chromatography. The simple synthesis and low overpotential suggests that this hybrid composite has potential as an HER catalyst.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)11528-11536
Number of pages9
JournalInternational Journal of Hydrogen Energy
Volume39
Issue number22
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 24 2014

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Fuel Technology
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology

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