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Pt/C catalysts containing CeO2 with different morphologies for the hydrogen evolution reaction

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Abstract

Pt/C catalysts containing four different morphologies of CeO2 as co-catalysts were synthesized in this work, and their electrocatalytic performance for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was investigated. As compared with the Pt/C catalyst, these four catalysts containing CeO2 all exhibited improved catalytic activity. Among them, the Pt/C catalyst containing spherical CeO2 with a diameter of 30 ~ 60 nm (Pt/C-CeO2(s2)) possesses the best catalytic activity, displaying an over-potential of 258 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and a Tafel slope of 42 mV dec−1. According to the characterization results of structure, morphology, and elemental valence state, the enhancement of catalytic activity is ascribed to the small particle size and good dispersion degree of Pt, as well as the strong interaction between the exposed (111) crystal plane of small spherical CeO2 and Pt, which leads to a significant increase in metallic Pt content. Moreover, the Pt/C-CeO2(s2) catalyst also demonstrates outstanding long-term stability besides exceptional catalytic activity. The results clearly illustrate that CeO2 with diverse shapes and sizes can remarkably influence the catalytic performance of loaded Pt particles in the HER process.

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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

The authors are grateful for the financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFC1909001) and the cooperation project between universities in Chongqing and institutes affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. HZ2021013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering Research Center of Green Recycling for Strategic Metal Resources, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100190, China

    Pengran Qi, Jia You, Yi Wang & Tao Qi

  2. School of Chemical Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 101408, China

    Pengran Qi

  3. Material Science and Engineering College, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China

    Jia You

  4. School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, 402160, China

    Liangliang Tian

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  1. Pengran Qi
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  2. Jia You
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  4. Liangliang Tian
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  5. Tao Qi
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. P.R. Qi, J. You, and Y. Wang wrote the main manuscript text. T. Qi also revised the main manuscript text. L.L. Tian prepared Figs. 1 and 2.

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Correspondence to Yi Wang or Tao Qi.

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Qi, P., You, J., Wang, Y. et al. Pt/C catalysts containing CeO2 with different morphologies for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Ionics 29, 5329–5337 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-023-05214-5

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