Tailoring electrochemical efficiency of hydrogen evolution by fine tuning of TiO x /RuO x composite cathode architecture

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A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

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en

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11

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International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Volume 44, issue 21, pp. 10593-10603

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Here we report an approach to design composite cathode based on TiO x nanotubes decorated with RuO x nanowhiskers for efficient hydrogen evolution. We tailor catalytic activity of the cathodes by adjustment of morphology of TiO x nanotubular support layer along with variation of RuO x loaded mass and assess its performance using electrochemical methods and wavelet analysis. The highest energy efficiency of hydrogen evolution is observed in 1 M H 2 SO 4 electrolyte to be ca. 64% at −10 mA/cm 2 for cathodes of the most developed area, i.e. smaller diameter of tubes, with enhanced RuO x loading. The efficiency is favored by detachment of small hydrogen bubbles what is revealed by wavelet analysis and is expressed in pure noise at wavelet spectrum. At increased current density, −50 or −100 mA/cm 2 , better efficiency of composite cathodes is supported by titania nanotubes of larger diameter due to an easier release of large hydrogen bubbles manifested in less periodic events appeared in the frequency region of 5–12 s at the spectra. We have shown that efficiency of the catalysts is determined by a pre-dominant type of hydrogen bubble release at different operation regimes depending on specific surface and a loaded mass of ruthenia.

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Fedorov, F S, Vasilkov, M Y, Panov, M, Rupasov, D, Rashkovskiy, A, Ushakov, N M, Lee, J, Hempelmann, R, Kallio, T & Nasibulin, A G 2019, 'Tailoring electrochemical efficiency of hydrogen evolution by fine tuning of TiO x /RuO x composite cathode architecture', International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, vol. 44, no. 21, pp. 10593-10603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.03.019