Hydrogen has enormous potential as a clean energy carrier. While the electrochemical reduction of water is a straightforward process, the commonly used platinum catalysts are expensive. Non-noble metal compounds could be promising and economical alternatives.

Ru-Shi Liu, National Taiwan University, Taipei, and colleagues have developed a cheaper, yet efficient and stable electrocatalyst: CoTe₂ nanoparticles. The team synthesized marcasite-type cobalt ditelluride using hydrothermal methods. The resulting particles had diameters of 20 to 50 nm and were used to coat electrodes. The catalytic activity was measured in dilute H₂SO₄ electrolyte solutions.

The catalyst was stable for over two days and showed a relatively low overpotential for the hydrogen evolution reaction. According to the researchers, the material could be used for solar water splitting.

• The CoTe₂ nanostructure: an efficient and robust catalyst for hydrogen evolution,
  Tzu-Hsiang Lu, Chih-Jung Chen, Mrinmoyee Basu, Chong-Geng Ma, Ru-Shi Liu,
  Chem. Commun. 2015, 51, 17012–17015.
  DOI: 10.1039/C5CC06806A