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Polythionine Coated on Au/Co₃O₄ Enhances the Performance for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Xiaolin Zhong

College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, P. R. China

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Jianzhi Huang

College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, P. R. China

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Min Wang

College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, P. R. China

Corresponding author.

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, and

Lishi Wang

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2991-0211

College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, P. R. China

E-mail Address: wanglsh@scut.edu.cn

Corresponding author.

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S1793292021500557Cited by:1 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

Developing a general, green and effective strategy to improve the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalyst is urgently needed but challenging. Herein, we report a novel conducting polymer/metal/metal oxide composite as HER catalyst prepared by a two-step strategy, in which the Au/Co₃O₄ is synthesized by a one-pot hydrothermal method, subsequently, cyclic voltammetry is employed to electropolymerize polythionine on the Au/Co₃O₄. It is demonstrated that the HER electrocatalytic activity of Au/Co₃O₄ is effectively improved by the coating polythionine layer. The optimal polythionine/Au/Co₃O₄ displays an excellent electrocatalytic ability towards HER with an overpotential of 168mV at $10 mA \cdot {cm}^{- 2}$ $10 mA \cdot {cm}^{- 2}$ and low Tafel slope of 79mV $\cdot$ $\cdot$ dec $^{- 1}$ $^{- 1}$ in 0.5M H₂SO₄, which is greatly superior to those of the Au/Co₃O₄ (an overpotential of 300mV at $10 mA \cdot {cm}^{- 2}$ $10 mA \cdot {cm}^{- 2}$ and tafel slope of $157 mV \cdot {dec}^{- 1})$ $157 mV \cdot {dec}^{- 1})$ . Interestingly, the HER performance of N-doped reduced graphene (N-rGO) can also be significantly boosted by the coating polythionine layers, indicating the multifunctionality of polythionine in the enhancement of HER performance of nano electrocatalysts.

Keywords:

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