Electrochemical synthesis of nanoporous tungsten carbide and its application as electrocatalysts for photoelectrochemical cells.

Title Electrochemical synthesis of nanoporous tungsten carbide and its application as electrocatalysts for photoelectrochemical cells.
Authors J.Soo Kang; J. Kim; M.Jae Lee; Y.Jun Son; J. Jeong; D.Young Chung; A. Lim; H. Choe; H.S. Park; Y.E. Sung
Journal Nanoscale
DOI 10.1039/c7nr00216e
Abstract

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells are promising tools for renewable and sustainable solar energy conversion. Currently, their inadequate performance and high cost of the noble metals used in the electrocatalytic counter electrode have postponed the practical use of PEC cells. In this study, we report the electrochemical synthesis of nanoporous tungsten carbide and its application as a reduction catalyst in PEC cells, namely, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) and PEC water splitting cells, for the first time. The method employed in this study involves the anodization of tungsten foil followed by post heat treatment in a CO atmosphere to produce highly crystalline tungsten carbide film with an interconnected nanostructure. This exhibited high catalytic activity for the reduction of cobalt bipyridine species, which represent state-of-the-art redox couples for DSCs. The performance of tungsten carbide even surpassed that of Pt, and a substantial increase (?25%) in energy conversion efficiency was achieved when Pt was substituted by tungsten carbide film as the counter electrode. In addition, tungsten carbide displayed decent activity as a catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction, suggesting the high feasibility for its utilization as a cathode material for PEC water splitting cells, which was also verified in a two-electrode water photoelectrolyzer.

Citation J.Soo Kang; J. Kim; M.Jae Lee; Y.Jun Son; J. Jeong; D.Young Chung; A. Lim; H. Choe; H.S. Park; Y.E. Sung.Electrochemical synthesis of nanoporous tungsten carbide and its application as electrocatalysts for photoelectrochemical cells.. Nanoscale. 2017. doi:10.1039/c7nr00216e

Related Elements

Tungsten

See more Tungsten products. Tungsten (atomic symbol: W, atomic number: 74) is a Block D, Group 6, Period 6 element with an atomic weight of 183.84. The number of electrons in each of tungsten's shells is [2, 8, 18, 32, 12, 2] and its electron configuration is [Xe] 4f14 5d4 6s2. Tungsten Bohr ModelThe tungsten atom has a radius of 139 pm and a Van der Waals radius of 210 pm. Tungsten was discovered by Torbern Bergman in 1781 and first isolated by Juan José Elhuyar and Fausto Elhuyar in 1783. In its elemental form, tungsten has a grayish white, lustrous appearance. Elemental TungstenTungsten has the highest melting point of all the metallic elements and a density comparable to that or uranium or gold and about 1.7 times that of lead. Tungsten alloys are often used to make filaments and targets of x-ray tubes. It is found in the minerals scheelite (CaWO4) and wolframite [(Fe,Mn)WO4]. In reference to its density, Tungsten gets its name from the Swedish words tung and sten, meaning heavy stone.

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