Designing Earth-Abundant Bulk and Nano-Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Production
Dr. Boniface Fokwa
Professor of Chemistry
University of California, Riverside
Tuesday, September 23, 2025
11:00 a.m.
In-person: C2-361
Abstract: Electrolysis of water is a promising clean method for large-scale hydrogen gas production, but its scalability is limited by the high cost and scarcity of noble metal catalysts like platinum (Pt). [1] Non-noble metal catalysts have emerged as effective alternatives for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Our recent research revealed that α-MoB2 (AlB2-type a 2D-like structure) exhibits exceptional HER activity. [2] Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that multiple surfaces of α-MoB2 are catalytically active, with the graphene-like B-terminated {001} surface being optimal for H2 evolution. Both DFT and experimental results confirm that α-MoB2 outperforms β-MoB2 in HER activity [3], attributed to its 50% higher content of graphene-like boron layers. Additionally, we discovered an unexpected boron-chain dependency in the V-B system [4], enabling the prediction of novel HER-active catalysts. Using a recently developed synthesis method [5], we successfully produced various transition metal borides at the nanoscale, several of which demonstrated excellent HER performance. [6],[7] Furthermore, we identified a lattice parameter-dependent HER activity in ternary AlB2-type variants, with Cr0.4Mo0.6B2 [8] and, more recently, Mo-vacancy-containing V0.3Mo0.7B2 [9] surpassing Pt/C at industrially relevant current densities. Some of these findings have been detailed in an invited account. [10]
References
(1) Seh et al., Science, 355, eaad4998, (2017).
(2) H. Park, et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 56, 5575 (2017).
(3) H. Park, et al., J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 139, 12915 (2017).
(4) E. Lee, et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 59, 11774 (2020).
(5) P. R. Jothi, et al., Adv. Mater. 30, 1704181 (2018).
(6) P. R. Jothi, et al., ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 30, 1704181 (2018).
(7) S. B. Kim, et al., Small, 21, 2412693 (2025).
(8) H. Park, et al., Adv. Mater. 32, 2000855 (2020).
(9) E. Lee, ACS. Energy Lett. Accepted (2025).
(10) E. Lee, et al., Acc. Chem. Res. 55, 56 (2022).
Biography:
- Professor of Chemistry since 2021
- Associate Professor of Chemistry 2018-2021
- Chair, ACS Solid State Chemistry Subdivision 2022
- Section Editor for EIBC since 2018
- Assistant Professor of Chemistry 2015-2018
- NSF Career Award 2016
- Associate Editor for EIBC 2016-2018
- Visiting Professor, UC Los Angeles, USA 2014-2015
- Heisenberg Fellow, German Research Foundation 2011-2014
- Visiting scientist, Cornel University, Ithaca,USA 2012
- Visiting scientist, Univ. of Auckland, New Zealand 2011
- Postdoctoral Fellow, German Research Foundation 2004-2006
- Ph.D (Dr.rer.nat.): Dresden University of Technology 2003
- BS, MS: University of Yaounde I(Cameroon) 1996, 1998