Bioinspired Iron Sulfide Nanoparticles for Cheap and Long-Lived Electrocatalytic Molecular Hydrogen Evolution in Neutral Water

Carlo Di Giovanni (1) , Wei-An Wang (2) , Sophie Nowak (2) , Jean-Marc Greneche (3) , Hélène Lecoq (2) , Ludovic Mouton (2) , Marion Giraud (2) , Cédric Tard (1)

1 LEM (UMR_7591) - Laboratoire d'Electrochimie Moléculaire
2 ITODYS (UMR_7086) - Interfaces, Traitements, Organisation et Dynamique des Systèmes
3 IMMM - Institut des Molécules et Matériaux du Mans

Alternative materials to platinum-based catalysts are required to produce molecular hydrogen from water at low overpotentials. Transition-metal chalcogenide catalysts have attracted significant interest over the past few years because of their activity toward proton reduction and their relative abundance compared with platinum. We report the synthesis and characterization of a new type of iron sulfide (FeS, pyrrhotite) nanoparticles prepared via a solvothermal route. This material can achieve electrocatalysis for molecular hydrogen evolution with no structural decomposition or activity decrease for at least 6 days at a mild overpotential in neutral water at room temperature.

Keywords: hydrogen evolution reaction; iron sulfide nanoparticles; electrocatalysis; nanoparticle Mössbauer spectroscopy; electrode modification

Domains: Chemical Sciences

Carlo Di Giovanni, Wei-An Wang, Sophie Nowak, Jean-Marc Greneche, Hélène Lecoq, et al.. Bioinspired Iron Sulfide Nanoparticles for Cheap and Long-Lived Electrocatalytic Molecular Hydrogen Evolution in Neutral Water. ACS Catalysis, 2014, 4 (2), pp.681-687. ⟨10.1021/cs4011698⟩. ⟨hal-01929726⟩