Study Of Nanostructured Ultra-Refractory Tantalum-Hafnium-Carbide Electrodes With Wide Electrochemical Stability Window

Transition metal carbides have gathered increasing attention in energy and electrochemistry applications, mainly due to their high structural and physicochemical properties. Their high refractory properties have made them an ideal candidate coating technology and more recently their electronic similarity to the platinum group has expanded their use to energy and catalysis. Here, we demonstrate that the nanostructuring and stoichiometry control of the highest melting point material to this date (Ta-Hf-C) results in outstanding electrochemical stability. Our results show one of the largest windows of stability of a single component electrode in a broad range pH. These experiments provide a new perspective on the electrochemical, thermoelectric and mechanical behavior of Ta-Hf-C nanocomposites, towards a broad range of applications in energy production, catalysis and analytical chemistry.