Hydrogen Evolution from Nano Tungsten Oxide Application

Among many energy sources, hydrogen is a clean and recyclable material, which is considered to be an ideal energy carrier. Electrolyzed water hydrogen production is one of the most promising and clean hydrogen production methods. Traditionally, it can effectively reduce hydrogen evolution. The electrode materials of the potential are mainly platinum-based precious metals, but the reserves of these metal materials on the earth are scarce and expensive, and large-scale promotion cannot be achieved. Therefore, the development and research of a hydrogen evolution electrode with high catalytic activity and low cost is of great theoretical and practical value.

Many studies have confirmed that tungsten materials can be used in the catalytic application of hydrogen evolution reaction. Many scholars have devoted themselves to the study of nano-tungsten carbide catalysts. In addition, some scholars have directly synthesized nano-tungsten oxide WO_2.9 with sub-stoichiometric ratio on tungsten trioxide, directly using blue tungsten instead of noble metal hydrogen evolution.

The preparation of nano tungsten oxide by one-step gas phase reduction method includes the following steps:

(1)Disperse 0.5-2g tungsten trioxide in 10-50mL absolute ethanol for 1-48h, then rinse it with deionized water and dry it naturally.

(2)The air-dried tungsten trioxide obtained from 0.5-2g is placed in the quartz ark of the tubular furnace, and the fully mixed carrier gas is filled with 0.05-0.3L/min. The reaction time is 30-120 min. The nano-sized tungsten oxide particles are obtained.

(3)Take out the quartz ark, wash the material in the quartz ark with distilled water and absolute ethanol for several times, and then dry it for 1-3 hours at 60-100 ℃. The nano-tungsten oxide WO_2.9 is obtained. Its size is 50-200 nanometer, and its shape is ellipsoidal nanoparticles and crystal is monoclinic phase. It is used for electrocatalytic decomposition of water to produce hydrogen.

The results show that nano-sized tungsten oxide WO_2.9 is used as an electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution. The results show that WO_2.9 has good hydrogen evolution performance and low overpotential. When the overpotential of hydrogen evolution is -70 mV, the current density is 10 mA/cm2. When the overpotential is -94 mV, the current density can reach 20 mA/cm². The synthesis method is simple, and the obtained materials are easy to be used. It is beneficial to popularize and apply in the industrial production, such as chlor-alkali industry, electrolytic water technology, solar water electrolysis and electrochemical hydrogen production systems.

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