Charge Transfer of Interfacial Catalysts for Hydrogen Energy

The development of multifunctional non-precious transition metal electrocatalystsistechnologicallysignificant inhydrogen and oxygen electrochemistry but challenging. Here weexploit interface engineering to construct a novel interface catalyst ofNi3N and Co2N that exhibits multifunctional hydrogen and oxygenelectrochemical activities in alkaline media. The interface catalysts ofNi3N/Co2N show superior bifunctional activity for hydrogen electro-chemistry comparable to the state-of-the-art Pt catalyst, as well as highoxygen evolution reaction activity. Furthermore, the multifunctionalNi3N/Co2N interface electrocatalysts demonstrate excellent applica-tions in water splitting for H2generation and a highly stable Swagelok-type Ni-H battery for H2utilization. Density functional theorycalculations further confirm that the interfacial charge transfer from Nito Co and N in Ni3N/Co2Nefficiently enhances the dissociative adsorption of H2and optimizes the adsorption configurations and binding energies of the intermediate hydrogen and hydroxide in the multifunctional reactions