The Influence of Elastic Strain on Catalytic Activity in the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie Vol. 128; no. 21; pp. 6283 - 6289
• Main Authors: Yan, Kai, Maark, Tuhina Adit, Khorshidi, Alireza, Sethuraman, Vijay A., Peterson, Andrew A., Guduru, Pradeep R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; German
• Published: Weinheim Blackwell Publishing Ltd 17-05-2016; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Alloys; Band theory; Catalysis; Catalysts; Catalytic activity; Chemistry; Compressing; Compression; Copper; Deformation; Design modifications; Elastische Spannung; Elektrokatalyse; Hydrogen evolution; Hydrogen evolution reactions; Katalytische Aktivität; Ligands; Metal films; Nickel; Strain; Strain analysis; Volcanoes; Wasserstoffentwicklung
• ISSN: 0044-8249; 1521-3757
• DOI: 10.1002/ange.201508613

Understanding the role of elastic strain in modifying catalytic reaction rates is crucial for catalyst design, but experimentally, this effect is often coupled with a ligand effect. To isolate the strain effect, we have investigated the influence of externally applied elastic strain on the catalytic activity of metal films in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). We show that elastic strain tunes the catalytic activity in a controlled and predictable way. Both theory and experiment show strain controls reactivity in a controlled manner consistent with the qualitative predictions of the HER volcano plot and the d‐band theory: Ni and Pt's activities were accelerated by compression, while Cu's activity was accelerated by tension. By isolating the elastic strain effect from the ligand effect, this study provides a greater insight into the role of elastic strain in controlling electrocatalytic activity.
Spannungsabhängige Katalyse: Elastische Spannung beeinflusst katalytische Reaktionsgeschwindigkeiten, ist aber oft mit einem Ligandeneffekt gekoppelt. Um den Spannungseffekt zu isolieren, wurden drei dünne Metallfilme auf elastischen Substraten uniaxialer Be‐ und Entlastung ausgesetzt und auf ihre Aktivität in der Wasserstoffentwicklungsreaktion untersucht.