Skip to main content

Activity Descriptors for Atomically Precise HER Electrocatalysts

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Atomically Precise Electrocatalysts for Electrochemical Energy Applications

Abstract

In electrochemistry, the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) ranks among the most significant reactions. HER is the easiest method to produce very pure hydrogen so the development of effective HER catalysts is of great importance. This situation has significantly influenced many researchers in the field of electrochemistry and made it the focus of active studies. In this direction, many catalysts with different structures have been developed for HER over many years. Among the various HER catalysts, atomically precise electrocatalysts (single-atom, dual-atom, and multi-atom) are becoming more popular because of their efficient use of atoms and impressive electrocatalytic performance. Recently, researchers have made significant efforts to synthesize and develop atomically precise HER catalysts with high activity and stability. However, it is critical to descriptor new strategies to improve catalytic activity. Therefore, different descriptors have been developed to describe the correlation between catalyst morphology and activity. In this chapter, we summarized the activity descriptors commonly used in the design of atomically precise HER catalysts and their importance. We also discussed their impact on performance. Finally, strategies developed to identify new descriptors for promising HER catalysts are proposed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bruix A, Rodriguez JA, Ramírez PJ, Senanayake SD, Evans J, Park JB, Stacchiola D, Liu P, Hrbek J, Illas F (2012) A new type of strong metal-support interaction and the production of H2 through the transformation of water on Pt/CeO2(111) and Pt/CeOx/TiO2(110) catalysts. J Am Chem Soc 134:8968–8974

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calle-Vallejo F, Tymoczko J, Colic V, Vu QH, Pohl MD, Morgenstern K, Loffreda D, Sautet P, Schuhmann W, Bandarenka AS (2015) Finding optimal surface sites on heterogeneous catalysts by counting nearest neighbors. Science 350:185–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang Y, Cheng Y, Feng Y, Li K, Jian H, Zhang H (2019) Upshift of the d band center toward the fermi level for promoting silver ion release, bacteria inactivation, and wound healing of alloy silver nanoparticles. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 11:12224–12231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chao T, Luo X, Chen W, Jiang B, Ge J, Lin Y, Wu G, Wang X, Hu Y, Zhuang Z, Wu Y, Hong X, Li Y (2017) Atomically dispersed copper-platinum dual sites alloyed with palladium nanorings catalyze the hydrogen evolution reaction. Angew Chem Int Ed 56:16047–16051

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen M, Smart TJ, Wang S, Kou T, Lin D, Ping Y, Li Y (2020) The coupling of experiments with density functional theory in the studies of the electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction. J Mater Chem A 8:8783–8812

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng Q, Hu C, Wang G, Zou Z, Yang H, Dai L (2020) Carbon-defect-driven electroless deposition of Pt atomic clusters for highly efficient hydrogen evolution. J Am Chem Soc 142:5594–5601

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durst J, Siebel A, Simon C, Hasché F, Herranz J, Gasteiger HA (2014) New insights into the electrochemical hydrogen oxidation and evolution reaction mechanism. Energy Environ Sci 7:2255–2260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elbert K, Hu J, Ma Z, Zhang Y, Chen G, An W, Liu P, Isaacs HS, Adzic RR, Wang JX (2015) Elucidating hydrogen oxidation/evolution kinetics in base and acid by enhanced activities at the optimized Pt shell thickness on the Ru core. ACS Catal 5:6764–6772

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fung V, Hu G, Wu Z, Jiang D-E (2020) Descriptors for hydrogen evolution on single atom catalysts in nitrogen-doped graphene. J Phys Chem C. 124:19571–19578

    Google Scholar 

  • Gao X, Yu G, Zheng L, Zhang C, Li H, Wang T, An P, Liu M, Qiu X, Chen W, Chen W (2019) Strong electron coupling from the sub-nanometer Pd clusters confined in porous ceria nanorods for highly efficient electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction. ACS Appl Energy Mater 2:966–973

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ge J, Zhang D, Qin Y, Dou T, Jiang M, Zhang F, Lei X (2021) Dual-metallic single Ru and Ni atoms decoration of MoS2 for high-efficiency hydrogen production. Appl Catal B 298:120557

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo J, Shang W, Hu J, Xin C, Cheng X, Wei J, Zhu C, Liu W, Shi Y (2022) Synergistically enhanced single-atom nickel catalysis for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 14:29822–29831

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammer B, Norskov JK (1995) Why gold is the noblest of all the metals. Nature 376:238–240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu C, Song E, Wang M, Chen W, Huang F, Feng Z, Liu J, Wang J (2021) Partial-single-atom, partial-nanoparticle composites enhance water dissociation for hydrogen evolution. Adv Sci 8:2001881

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang K, Luo M, Liu Z, Peng M, Chen D, Lu Y-R, Chan T-S, de Groot FM, Tan Y (2021) Rational strain engineering of single-atom ruthenium on nanoporous MoS2 for highly efficient hydrogen evolution. Nat Commun 12:1687

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiao M, Chen Z, Wang N, Liu L (2023) DFT calculation screened CoCu and CoFe dual-atom catalysts with remarkable hydrogen evolution reaction activity. Appl Catal B 324:122244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar A, Bui VQ, Lee J, Wang L, Jadhav AR, Liu X, Shao X, Liu Y, Yu J, Hwang Y, Bui HTD, Ajmal S, Kim MG, Kim S-G, Park G-S, Kawazoe Y, Lee H (2021) Moving beyond bimetallic-alloy to single-atom dimer atomic-interface for all-pH hydrogen evolution. Nat Commun 12:6766

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu X, Jiao Y, Zheng Y, Davey K, Qiao S-Z (2019a) A computational study on Pt and Ru dimers supported on graphene for the hydrogen evolution reaction: new insight into the alkaline mechanism. J Mater Chem A 7:3648–3654

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu F, Shi C, Guo X, He Z, Pan L, Huang ZF, Zhang X, Zou JJ (2022a) Rational design of better hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts for water splitting: a review. Adv Sci 9:2200307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu X, Deng Y, Zheng L, Kesama MR, Tang C, Zhu Y (2022b) Engineering low-coordination single-atom cobalt on graphitic carbon nitride catalyst for hydrogen evolution. ACS Catal 12:5517–5526

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu J, Wang Z, Kou L, Gu Y (2023) Mechanism exploration and catalyst design for hydrogen evolution reaction accelerated by density functional theory simulations. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 11:467–481

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu E, Li J, Jiao L, Doan HTT, Liu Z, Zhao Z, Huang Y, Abraham K, Mukerjee S, Jia Q (2019) Unifying the hydrogen evolution and oxidation reactions kinetics in base by identifying the catalytic roles of hydroxyl-water-cation adducts. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 141:3232–3239

    Google Scholar 

  • Lu B, Guo L, Wu F, Peng Y, Lu JE, Smart TJ, Wang N, Finfrock YZ, Morris D, Zhang P, Li N, Gao P, Ping Y, Chen S (2019) Ruthenium atomically dispersed in carbon outperforms platinum toward hydrogen evolution in alkaline media. Nat Commun 10:631

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luo Y, Zhang S, Pan H, Xiao S, Guo Z, Tang L, Khan U, Ding B-F, Li M, Cai Z, Zhao Y, Lv W, Feng Q, Zou X, Lin J, Cheng H-M, Liu B (2020) Unsaturated single atoms on monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides for ultrafast hydrogen evolution. ACS Nano 14:767–776

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nørskov JK, Holloway S, Lang ND (1984) Microscopic model for the poisoning and promotion of adsorption rates by electronegative and electropositive atoms. Surf Sci 137:65–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peng W, Feng Y, Yan X, Hou F, Wang L, Liang J (2021) Multiatom catalysts for energy-related electrocatalysis. Adv Sustain Syst 5:2000213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qi L, Gao W, Jiang Q (2020) Effective descriptor for designing high-performance catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction. J Phys Chem C 124:23134–23142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Su P, Pei W, Wang X, Ma Y, Jiang Q, Liang J, Zhou S, Zhao J, Liu J, Lu GQ (2021) Exceptional electrochemical HER performance with enhanced electron transfer between Ru nanoparticles and single atoms dispersed on a carbon substrate. Angew Chem Int Ed 60:16044–16050

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Subbaraman R, Tripkovic D, Strmcnik D, Chang K-C, Uchimura M, Paulikas AP, Stamenkovic V, Markovic NM (2011) Enhancing hydrogen evolution activity in water splitting by tailoring Li+–Ni (OH) 2-Pt interfaces. Science 334:1256–1260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun Y, Zang Y, Tian W, Yu X, Qi J, Chen L, Liu X, Qiu H (2022) Plasma-induced large-area N, Pt-doping and phase engineering of MoS2 nanosheets for alkaline hydrogen evolution. Energy Environ Sci 15:1201–1210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu Q, Li H, Zhou Y, Lv S, Chen T, Liu S, Li W, Chen Z (2022) Convenient synthesis of a Ru catalyst containing single atoms and nanoparticles on nitrogen-doped carbon with superior hydrogen evolution reaction activity in a wide pH range. Inorg Chem 61:11011–11021

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu H, Cheng D, Cao D, Zeng XC (2018) A universal principle for a rational design of single-atom electrocatalysts. Nat Catal 1:339–348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu F, Zhao J, Wang J, Guan T, Li K (2022) Strong coordination ability of sulfur with cobalt for facilitating scale-up synthesis of Co9S8 encapsulated S, N co-doped carbon as a trifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction, oxygen and hydrogen evolution reaction. J Colloid Interface Sci 608:2623–2632

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zang Y, Niu S, Wu Y, Zheng X, Cai J, Ye J, Xie Y, Liu Y, Zhou J, Zhu J, Liu X, Wang G, Qian Y (2019) Tuning orbital orientation endows molybdenum disulfide with exceptional alkaline hydrogen evolution capability. Nat Commun 10:1217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhan G, Yao Y, Quan F, Gu H, Liu X, Zhang L (2022) D-band frontier: a new hydrogen evolution reaction activity descriptor of Pt single-atom catalysts. J Energy Chem 72:203–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang L, Si R, Liu H, Chen N, Wang Q, Adair K, Wang Z, Chen J, Song Z, Li J (2019) Atomic layer deposited Pt-Ru dual-metal dimers and identifying their active sites for hydrogen evolution reaction. Nat Commun 10:4936

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang J, Zhang L, Liu J, Zhong C, Tu Y, Li P, Du L, Chen S, Cui Z (2022) OH spectator at IrMo intermetallic narrowing activity gap between alkaline and acidic hydrogen evolution reaction. Nat Commun 13:5497

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao W, Luo C, Lin Y, Wang G-B, Chen HM, Kuang P, Yu J (2022a) Pt–Ru dimer electrocatalyst with electron redistribution for hydrogen evolution reaction. ACS Catal 12:5540–5548

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Y, Kumar PV, Tan X, Lu X, Zhu X, Jiang J, Pan J, Xi S, Yang HY, Ma Z, Wan T, Chu D, Jiang W, Smith SC, Amal R, Han Z, Lu X (2022b) Modulating Pt–O–Pt atomic clusters with isolated cobalt atoms for enhanced hydrogen evolution catalysis. Nat Commun 13:2430

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng Y, Jiao Y, Li LH, Xing T, Chen Y, Jaroniec M, Qiao SZ (2014) Toward design of synergistically active carbon-based catalysts for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. ACS Nano 8:5290–5296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng J, Sheng W, Zhuang Z, Xu B, Yan Y (2016) Universal dependence of hydrogen oxidation and evolution reaction activity of platinum-group metals on pH and hydrogen binding energy. Sci Adv 2:e1501602

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ayşe Bayrakçeken Yurtcan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Aykut, Y., Yurtcan, A.B. (2024). Activity Descriptors for Atomically Precise HER Electrocatalysts. In: Kumar, A., Gupta, R.K. (eds) Atomically Precise Electrocatalysts for Electrochemical Energy Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54622-8_14

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54622-8_14

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-54621-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-54622-8

  • eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics