Ruthenium Nanoparticles for Catalytic Water Splitting

Abstract

Both global warming and limited fossil resources make the transition from fossil to solar fuels an urgent matter. In this regard, the splitting of water activated by sunlight is a sustainable and carbon‐free new energy conversion scheme able to produce efficient technological devices. The availability of appropriate catalysts is essential for the proper kinetics of the two key processes involved, namely, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). During the last decade, ruthenium nanoparticle derivatives have emerged as true potential substitutes for the state‐of‐the‐art platinum and iridium oxide species for the HER and OER, respectively. Thus, after a summary of the most common methods for catalyst benchmarking, this review covers the most significant developments of ruthenium‐based nanoparticles used as catalysts for the water‐splitting process. Furthermore, the key factors that govern the catalytic performance of these nanocatalysts are discussed in view of future research directions.

Plasma-Deposited Ru-Based Thin Films for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

“…Ruthenium (Ru)-in both its oxidized, especially RuO 2 (Ru +4 ), and metallic (Ru 0 ) forms-has been widely studied and applied as a heterogeneous catalyst and electrocatalyst [1,2]. A lot of attention has been paid to the use of such catalysts in the reactions occurring in fuel cells [3,4] as well as in the photo- [5,6], electro- [7][8][9][10], and photoelectro-splitting of water [11,12]. In the water splitting processes, Ru-based materials have proven to be one of the most efficient catalysts in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) [13].…”

Synthesis of Ru‐Doped VN by a Soft‐Urea Pathway as an Efficient Catalyst for Hydrogen Evolution

“…However, the high cost and low abundance of Pt seriously hinder its large‐scale application in widespread hydrogen production from water electrolysis . Previous studies have proven that Ru possesses the hydrogen bond energy of ∼65 kcal, which is proposed as a promising cheaper alternative to Pt catalyst . However, the unfavorable aggregation and coarsening of Ru in synthesizing process have significantly affected its activity and stability .…”

“…[13,14] Previous studies have proven that Ru possesses the hydrogen bond energy of 65 kcal, which is proposed as a promising cheaper alternative to Pt catalyst. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] However, the unfavorable aggregation and coarsening of Ru in synthesizing process have significantly affected its activity and stability. [23,24] To overcome this dilemma, some proper supports, such as carbon materials, metal oxide, and hydroxides, are introduced to anchor and stabilize ultrasmall Ru species.…”

Green Synthesis of M0 Nanoparticles (M=Pd, Pt, and Ru) for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

“…Another important aspect of metal NPs is their use as potential catalysts for the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) . Among the precious metals, Pt is the most efficient catalyst for this purpose .…”

“…Among the precious metals, Pt is the most efficient catalyst for this purpose . A recent development regarding the Ru‐based catalyst via incorporation of carbon indicated that nitrogen has also shown promising activity . Thus, we have performed electrocatalytic HER using the synthesized Pd, Ru, and Pt catalysts.…”