A Smorgasbord of Carbon: Electrochemical Analysis of Cobalt–Bis(benzenedithiolate) Complex Adsorption and Electrocatalytic Activity on Diverse Graphitic Supports

• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b05159
• Publication Date: 2016-08-18T15:47:17Z
• Authors: Shawn C. Eady; Molly M. MacInnes; Nicolai Lehnert
• Keywords: Carbon fibers

Heterogeneous dihydrogen production manifolds comprised of bulk graphite, pencil graphite powder in Nafion films, graphene, and glassy carbon electrodes with adsorbed proton reduction catalyst TBA[Co(S2C6Cl2H2)2] have been prepared tested for their efficiency to generate acidic aqueous media. The on these inexpensive graphitic surfaces consistently displays similar electrocatalytic profiles compared the same highly ordered pyrolytic (HOPG) supports, including high activity moderately solutions (pH < 4), moderate overpotentials (0.42 V vs platinum), some highest reported initial turnover frequencies under electrolysis conditions (96 s–1). exceptions are single-layer graphene surfaces, which only weakly adsorb catalyst, no sustained catalytic current upon acid addition. In particular, improved stability good observed embedded a film shows that this is promising H2 system can be assembled at minimal cost effort.