Boosting Electrocatalytic Activity of Ru for Acidic Hydrogen Evolution through Hydrogen Spillover Strategy

Abstract

Pristine Ru generally shows unsatisfying activity for the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). How to activate its HER activity through facile methodologies is very challenging. Recently, metal-supported electrocatalysts integrating metals with efficient hydrogen adsorption and supports with facile hydrogen desorption delivered a high HER performance through a metal-to-support hydrogen spillover process, where the small metal–support work function difference (ΔΦ) was identified as the criterion for the successful interfacial hydrogen spillover. Herein, we demonstrate that a hydrogen spillover strategy significantly boosts the HER activity of Ru by depositing a Ru1Fe1 alloy on CoP (Ru1Fe1/CoP) with a small ΔΦ of 0.05 eV. Experimentally, Ru1Fe1/CoP (0.7 wt % Ru loading) delivered a high Ru utilization activity of 139.8 A/mgRu and a long-term durability in acid. Mechanism investigations authenticated that the small ΔΦ guaranteed the interfacial hydrogen spillover from Ru1Fe1 with efficient hydrogen adsorption to CoP with facile hydrogen desorption and thereafter boosted the HER activity of Ru.

Boosting the interfacial hydrogen migration for efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution on Pt-based nanowires

“…In addition, the sensitivity of the hydrogen desorption peak position to the scan rate during CV investigations can be used as a descriptor to reflect the hydrogen desorption kinetics and evidence the occurrence of hydrogen spillover. 15,45 As Fig. 4h and S29† show, the hydrogen desorption peak shifts positively with increasing scan rate for all catalysts, among which the PtNiP-0.11 NWs possess the lowest slope value.…”

“…2), the higher Δ Φ of nickel phosphide in contrast to that of Ni would reduce the Δ Φ difference between Ni and Pt, 42–44 leading to decreased interfacial charge accumulation and promoted hydrogen migration across the Pt–Ni interface. 16,45…”

“…2), the higher DF of nickel phosphide in contrast to that of Ni would reduce the DF difference between Ni and Pt, [42][43][44] leading to decreased interfacial charge accumulation and promoted hydrogen migration across the Pt-Ni interface. 16,45 Further, EIS measurements were experimentally performed to monitor the local *H concentration under HER conditions so as to evaluate the thermodynamic driving force for hydrogen spillover on different catalysts (Fig. S25-S27 †).…”

Discovery of Hydrogen Spillover-Based Binary Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution: From Theory to Experiment

“…Afterward, the metal sites are released and re-exposed rapidly for the next H* adsorption, ultimately improving the metal utilization. As a result, if the noble metal is employed, high noble-metal utilization activity is achieved on hydrogen spillover-based binary (HSBB) electrocatalysts . In this way, the design horizon of high-performance HER catalysts is expanded, and many materials that are not originally active for HER can be selected as potential candidates (Figure S2).…”

Enhanced metal-support interaction boosted industrial electrocatalytic water splitting performance of supported Ru nanoparticles on Ni3N/NiO heterojunction

“…Specially, Ru-based supported nanomaterials show increasing potential due to their low-price and Pt-like EWS performance. Yet most of the reported supports such as metal oxides 13,22,23 , phosphide 15,[24][25][26] , hydroxide [27][28][29] and heteroatoms doped carbon materials 30,31 , are homogeneous carriers with less exposed active sites and unsatis ed MSI, which ultimately hinders the achievement of e cient theoretical catalytic performance. Consequently, designing a novel metal-based heterojunction carrier with tuned MSI can be essential to develop a high-performance supported Ru catalyst for EWS at industrial current densities.…”