Protrusion‐Rich Cu@NiRu Core@shell Nanotubes for Efficient Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Electrocatalysis

Abstract

The development of highly efficient and durable water electrolysis catalysts plays an important role in the large‐scale applications of hydrogen energy. In this work, protrusion‐rich Cu@NiRu core@shell nanotubes are prepared by a facile wet chemistry method and used for catalyzing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in an alkaline environment. The protrusion‐like RuNi alloy shells with accessible channels and abundant defects possess a large surface area and can optimize the surface electronic structure through the electron transfer from Ni to Ru. Moreover, the unique 1D hollow structure can effectively stabilize RuNi alloy shell through preventing the aggregation of nanoparticles. The synthesized catalyst can achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in 1.0 m KOH with an overpotential of only 22 mV and show excellent stability after 5000 cycles, which is superior to most reported Ru‐based catalysts. Density functional theory calculations illustrate that the weakened hydrogen adsorption on Ru sites induced by the alloying with Ni and active electron transfer between Ru and Ni/Cu are the keys to the much improved HER activity.

Nanostructure engineering of ruthenium-modified electrocatalysts for efficient electrocatalytic water splitting

“…22a and b). 257 Partially surface sacrificial Cu nanowires are alloyed with reduced Ni and Ru atoms, achieving a tunable surface electronic structure and Ru/Ni ratio in the shell. Finally, this unique Cu@NiRu catalyst achieves outstanding performance for HER.…”

Intermetallic Nanocrystals for Fuel-Cells-Based Electrocatalysis

“…To this end, the core/shell intermetallic structures with Pt 3 Sn core and atomic-layer Pt shell rich in defect were obtained, which induced ∼4.4% tensile strain on Pt atoms along the [001] direction (Figure b). In addition, two-step deposition is the most common method to synthesize core/shell nanocrystals, which can be widely found in various core/shell nanomaterials. ,,− This route is also very suitable for the core/shell nanocrystals with intermetallic core and metal shells. A commending method is to obtain fcc -phase PtCo octahedral nanocrystals surrounded by (111) planes under the presence of W­(CO) 6 , which can be further transformed into truncated octahedral fct -phase PtCo intermetallic nanocrystals by annealing treatment in reducing atmosphere, regardless of the size and shape change .…”

Designing active and stable Ir-based catalysts for the acidic oxygen evolution reaction

“…Green hydrogen is considered as one of the most promising choices to achieve the target of being carbon-neutral due to the zero environmental impact of its production. [1][2][3] Electrochemical water splitting (EWS) technologies, which can directly convert electrical energy into chemical energy, show great potential for hydrogen generation. Currently, low temperature EWS technologies can be divided into three categories, alkaline water electrolyzers (AWEs), anion exchange membrane electrolyzers (AEMWEs) and PEMWEs.…”