Mechanochemical fabrication of antireductive copper-oxygen noncrystal for hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Low-cost metal electrocatalysts possess cost advantage and are widely demanded in energy storage and conversion fields, while their activity and durability are inadequate to meet the practical requirements. To overcome the difficulty, we specially design a kind of catalyst composed of low-cost metals with noncrystal structure and non-metal dopants, in which non-metal dopants can improve the catalytic activity, and the noncrystal structure stabilizes the dopants thus guarantees the long-term durability. Nevertheless, such metallic noncrystals with non-metal dopants are hard to be fabricated by traditional processes involving high-temperature and rapid quenching. Hence, we develop a facile mechanochemical technology where metallic nanoparticles serve as the starting material, and mechanical energy is applied to alter the structure and composition of the reaction products. As a concrete example, copper nanoparticles are pressed in oxygen gas at room temperature, yielding a copper-oxygen noncrystal that serves as highly active and stable catalytic sites for water electrolysis. Our work demonstrates that the mechanochemical process offer significant advantages on producing noncrystal catalysts. It avoids harsh reaction conditions as well as reduces the environmental impact, providing an efficient and sustainable approach for fabricating high-performance materials.