Methanol-assisted energy-saving hydrogen production over defect-rich perforated PdIn bimetallene

Thermodynamically favorable oxidation reaction instead of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with sluggish kinetics as anode reaction and coupled with hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at cathode is an effective hydrogen production technology. Herein, we report a solvothermal method synthesis of defect-rich crimped perforated PdIn bimetallene as an efficient catalyst for hydrogen production with the assistance of methanol. Boosted by abundant crystal defects, higher surface energy and expanded surface active sites, the defect-rich crimped perforated PdIn bimetallene exhibits superior activity and stability in catalyzing methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and HER. At the established MOR-HER co-electrolytic system, when the anode and cathode are equipped with PdIn bimetallene, the required cell voltage only is 1.26 V to achieve the current density of 100 mA cm−2, which is 0.93 V lower than that of traditional water electrolysis. This work reports a defect-rich crimped perforated PdIn bimetallene catalyst, as an effective bifunctional catalyst that provides insight for the advancement of energy-saving and promising hydrogen production engineering.