Separating nanobubble nucleation for transfer-resistance-free electrocatalysis
Abstract Electrocatalytic gas-evolving reactions often result in bubble-covered surfaces, impeding the mass transfer to active sites. Such an issue will be worsened in practical high-current-density conditions and can cause sudden cell failure. Herein, we develop an on-chip microcell-based total-int...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55750-5 |
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| author | Shasha Guo Maolin Yu Jinn-Kye Lee Mengyi Qiu Dundong Yuan Zhili Hu Chao Zhu Yao Wu Zude Shi Wei Ma Shuangyin Wang Yongmin He Zhengyang Zhang Zhuhua Zhang Zheng Liu |
| author_facet | Shasha Guo Maolin Yu Jinn-Kye Lee Mengyi Qiu Dundong Yuan Zhili Hu Chao Zhu Yao Wu Zude Shi Wei Ma Shuangyin Wang Yongmin He Zhengyang Zhang Zhuhua Zhang Zheng Liu |
| author_sort | Shasha Guo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Electrocatalytic gas-evolving reactions often result in bubble-covered surfaces, impeding the mass transfer to active sites. Such an issue will be worsened in practical high-current-density conditions and can cause sudden cell failure. Herein, we develop an on-chip microcell-based total-internal-reflection-fluorescence-microscopy to enable operando imaging of bubbles at sub-50 nm and dynamic probing of their nucleation during hydrogen evolution reaction. Using platinum-interfacial metal layer-graphene as model systems, we demonstrate that the strong binding energy between interfacial metal layer and graphene—evidenced by a reduced metal-support distance and enhanced charge transfer—facilitates hydrogen spillover from platinum to the graphene support due to lower energy barriers compared to the platinum-graphene system. This results in the spatial separation of bubble nucleation from the platinum surface, notably enhancing catalytic activity, as demonstrated in both microcell and polymer electrolyte membrane cell experiments. Our findings offer insights into bubble nucleation control and the design of electrocatalytic interfaces with minimized transfer resistance. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a217794ceae643ada7815e59f9614006 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-a217794ceae643ada7815e59f96140062025-01-26T12:41:31ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-01-0116111210.1038/s41467-024-55750-5Separating nanobubble nucleation for transfer-resistance-free electrocatalysisShasha Guo0Maolin Yu1Jinn-Kye Lee2Mengyi Qiu3Dundong Yuan4Zhili Hu5Chao Zhu6Yao Wu7Zude Shi8Wei Ma9Shuangyin Wang10Yongmin He11Zhengyang Zhang12Zhuhua Zhang13Zheng Liu14Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell UniversityState Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control for Aerospace Structures, Key Laboratory for Intelligent Nano Materials and Devices of Ministry of Education, and Institute for Frontier Science, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsSchool of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Nanyang Technological UniversityCollege of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan UniversitySEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Lab of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast UniversityState Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control for Aerospace Structures, Key Laboratory for Intelligent Nano Materials and Devices of Ministry of Education, and Institute for Frontier Science, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsSEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Lab of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast UniversitySchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological UniversityCollege of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan UniversitySchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological UniversityCollege of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan UniversityCollege of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan UniversitySchool of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Nanyang Technological UniversityState Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control for Aerospace Structures, Key Laboratory for Intelligent Nano Materials and Devices of Ministry of Education, and Institute for Frontier Science, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological UniversityAbstract Electrocatalytic gas-evolving reactions often result in bubble-covered surfaces, impeding the mass transfer to active sites. Such an issue will be worsened in practical high-current-density conditions and can cause sudden cell failure. Herein, we develop an on-chip microcell-based total-internal-reflection-fluorescence-microscopy to enable operando imaging of bubbles at sub-50 nm and dynamic probing of their nucleation during hydrogen evolution reaction. Using platinum-interfacial metal layer-graphene as model systems, we demonstrate that the strong binding energy between interfacial metal layer and graphene—evidenced by a reduced metal-support distance and enhanced charge transfer—facilitates hydrogen spillover from platinum to the graphene support due to lower energy barriers compared to the platinum-graphene system. This results in the spatial separation of bubble nucleation from the platinum surface, notably enhancing catalytic activity, as demonstrated in both microcell and polymer electrolyte membrane cell experiments. Our findings offer insights into bubble nucleation control and the design of electrocatalytic interfaces with minimized transfer resistance.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55750-5 |
| spellingShingle | Shasha Guo Maolin Yu Jinn-Kye Lee Mengyi Qiu Dundong Yuan Zhili Hu Chao Zhu Yao Wu Zude Shi Wei Ma Shuangyin Wang Yongmin He Zhengyang Zhang Zhuhua Zhang Zheng Liu Separating nanobubble nucleation for transfer-resistance-free electrocatalysis Nature Communications |
| title | Separating nanobubble nucleation for transfer-resistance-free electrocatalysis |
| title_full | Separating nanobubble nucleation for transfer-resistance-free electrocatalysis |
| title_fullStr | Separating nanobubble nucleation for transfer-resistance-free electrocatalysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Separating nanobubble nucleation for transfer-resistance-free electrocatalysis |
| title_short | Separating nanobubble nucleation for transfer-resistance-free electrocatalysis |
| title_sort | separating nanobubble nucleation for transfer resistance free electrocatalysis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55750-5 |
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