Project R-14740

Bifunctional transition metal electrocatalyst for efficient UOR and HER (Research)

The ever-increasing global warming along with environmental issues has spurred significant attention recently toward the development of green hydrogen. Among various techniques for hydrogen production, water splitting stands out as the most widely adopted method for generating H2. It consists of two half-reactions, namely oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on the anode and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) on the cathode. However, overall water splitting is sluggish, due to slow kinetics of OER alongside various resistances. Given the high thermodynamic potential of OER, the substitution of this reaction with materials exhibiting faster oxidation, such as urea, is an eye-catching choice. Similar to the HER, precious metals have exhibited exemplary performance in UOR. In recent years, the focus of research is to design and synthesis of UOR electrocatalyst with non-precious metals and with a final goal to develop excellent electrocatalytic performance towards UOR in different media. This study focuses on design and synthesis of non-precious metals (e.g., Ni) based electrocatalysts capable of facilitating of both high efficient UOR and HER. Different techniques will be applied to characterize these catalysts. Their performance towards integrated UOR and HER will be symmetrically studied using experimental and theoretical approaches.

01 February 2024 - 31 January 2028