Engineering Multimetallic Aerogels for pH-Universal HER and ORR Electrocatalysis

Abstract

The advent of noble metal aerogels (NMAs), that feature the high catalytic activity of noble metals and unique structural attributes of aerogels, has stimulated research on a new class of outstanding electrocatalysts. However, limited by the available compositions, the explored electrocatalytic reactions on NMAs are highly restricted and certain important electrochemical processes have not been investigated. Here, an effective gelation approach is demonstrated by using a strong salting-out agent (i.e., NH4F), thereby expanding the composition of NMAs to various multimetallic systems and providing a platform to investigate composition-dependent electrocatalytic performance of NMAs. Combining structural features of aerogels and optimized chemical compositions, the Au–Pt and Au–Rh aerogel catalysts manifest remarkable pH-universal (pH = 0–14) performance surpassing commercial Pt/C and many other nanoparticle (NP)-based catalysts in the electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction, hydrogen evolution reaction, and water splitting, displaying enormous potential for the electrochemical hydrogen production, fuel cells, etc.