Design and development of defect rich titania nanostructure for efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction in an acidic electrolyte

• Main Authors: Murugesan Praveen Kumar, Govindhasamy Murugadoss, Ramalinga Viswanathan Mangalaraja, Prabhakarn Arunachalam, Manavalan Rajesh Kumar, Unalome Wetwatana Hartley, Sunitha Salla, Jothiramalingam Rajabathar, Zeid A. ALOthman, Tariq ALTalhi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-09-01
• Series: Journal of Materials Research and Technology
• Subjects: Defect rich titania nanostructure; Electrocatalyst; Electrochemical anodization and cathodization method; Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER); Water splitting
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S223878542100781X
• ISSN: 2238-7854

Cost-effective, efficient and stable electrocatalyst for water splitting in the acidic electrolyte medium has been developed. The acidic electrolyte could be a support for the high purity hydrogen production via water splitting. Accordingly, we have prepared the defect-rich titania nanostructure via electrochemical anodization and cathodization routes using the titanium plate, which showed highly effective and durable electrocatalyst of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in an acidic medium. This hybrid compound showed a low onset potential of −0.17 V for HER with a current density of −150 mA cm−2 in 1 M H2SO4. Moreover, the stability test has been performed with the defect-rich titania nanostructure as cathode for 6 h in the two electrodes system.