Biomass-derived self-supported porous carbon membrane embedded with Co nanoparticles as an advanced electrocatalyst for efficient and robust hydrogen evolution reaction

Powderous transition metal-based electrocatalysts have been widely studied for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), but their practical application still remains challenging due to the tedious slurry-based electrode assembly process and unavoidable stability decay at high current density. Herein, a self-supported H-2 evolution cathode based on pomelo peel (PP)-derived porous carbon (PPDC) membrane with embedded Co nanoparticles (Co@PPDC) is developed by direct carbonization of Co-adsorbed PP (Co2+ -PP). Benefiting from the large surface areas, the abundant open and interconnected pores, the highly graphitic PPDC membrane, and the highly dispersed Co nanoparticles, the self-supported Co@PPDC electrode demonstrates superior electrocatalytic performance for HER in 1.0 M KOH solution, with overpotentials of 154 and 264 mV at current densities of 10 and 100 mA cm(-2) , respectively. In addition, owing to the good structural integrity, the Co@PPDC electrode exhibits an excellent cycling stability for 2000 cycles and a stable current density of similar to 100 mA cm(-2) at a constant overpotential of 265 mV over 12 h with a nearly 100% Faradaic efficiency (FE) and H-2 production rate of 1.56 mmol h(-1) . Therefore, this work provides a versatile and effective strategy for development of high-performance self-supported electrodes at low cost for large-scale H-2 production from electrochemical water splitting. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.