Hydrogen Electrode Reaction (HER) on different metals: Evaluation of the Electrocatalytic Activity

P. M. QUAINO, E. SANTOS Y W. SCHMICKLER

Giessen, Alemania

Conferencia; Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, Electrochemistry: Crossing boundaries; 2008

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Thorndale AMT"; mso-font-alt:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:none; mso-hyphenate:none; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Thorndale AMT"; mso-fareast-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language:#00FF;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 70.85pt 2.0cm 70.85pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> The oxidation of the hydrogen is one of the fundamental reactions of electrochemistry. It is the anodic reaction of the most common type of fuel cell, which may expect to form the basis of a future hydrogen economy. The most important properties of the metal catalyst that determine their effectivity are the position of the d-band and its coupling strengh to the hydrogen orbital: a good catalyst has a d-band extending to the Fermi level, which interacts strongly with the hydrogen. Consequently, the aim of the present work is to evaluate the electrocatalytic properties of different metals on the hydrogen electrode reaction using a combination of DFT calculations with the formalism developed by our group in Ulm [1].