Fondazione Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia

Dipak Vijaykumar Shinde

Liberato Manna

Luca De Trizio

Yong Zuo

The present invention relates to an electrocatalyst comprising a Ti substrate coated with a 3D Cu nanostructured matrix decorated with a mixture of amorphous TiOand nanoparticles of a noble metal, preferably Pt nanoparticles, an electrochemical cell comprising said electrocatalyst and their use for hydrogen production via hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in basic conditions. The present invention also refers to an in situ process for the preparation of said electrocatalyst and simultaneous production of hydrogen, comprising the steps of: (a) providing an electrochemical cell having a 3-electrode configuration comprising a starting working electrode which comprises a Ti substrate coated with vertically oriented CuO nanoplatelets, the cell further comprising a counter electrode and a reference electrode; (b) adding an aqueous basic electrolyte solution to the cell of step (a), said aqueous basic electrolyte solution comprising a precursor of a noble metal, preferably a Pt precursor; (c) applying a negative potential with respect to the reference electrode to the cell of step b). The present invention also refers to a process for producing hydrogen which utilizes the electrochemical cell comprising the electrocatalyst according to the invention.

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Genoa, Italy

Dipak Vijaykumar Shinde