A New and Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Production from Water Splitting: Inexpensive, Robust Metallic Glassy Ribbons Based on Iron and Cobalt

Efficient, stable electrocatalysts are required to promote the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) to obtain hydrogen as a clean, sustainable fuel via water splitting. In the present work, ribbons of the metallic glass Fe40Co40P13C7 were produced using a conventional melt-spinning technique and assessed as electrocatalysts for HER. In 0.5 M H2SO4, these ribbons generated an overpotential of 118 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2. This overpotential remained essentially constant over 20 h under these conditions. Based on the excellent properties, these glassy ribbons represent a new type of highly active, robust HER catalyst suitable for practical applications.