Activation Effect of Electrochemical Cycling on Gold Nanoparticles towards the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Sulfuric Acid

• Main Authors: Ager III, Joel W., Xu, Zhichuan Jason, Wang, Ying, Sun, Yuanmiao, Liao, Hanbin, Sun, Shengnan, Li, Shuzhou
• Other Authors: School of Materials Science & Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Electrocatalysis; Gold
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/85617; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/43774
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This article reports a study of electrochemical cycling effects on hydrogen evolution catalytic activity of gold nanoparticles in sulfuric acid. We found that after cycling within the double layer regime, up to 0.64 V vs RHE, there is a dramatic effect on the HER activity of gold nanoparticles: 128 mV drop of the overpotential, a decrease of 23 mV/dec for the Tafel slope as well as a nearly twenty times increase of the turn-over frequency (TOF). This enhanced activity is tentatively assigned to the formation of stepped like structures by the consecutive electrochemical cycling in the double layer region.