Nb₂AlC MAX Nanosheets Supported Ru Nanocrystals as Efficient Catalysts for Boosting pH-Universal Hydrogen Production

MAX phase combines both ceramic and metallic properties, which exhibits widespread application prospects. 2D MAX nanosheets have more abundant surface-active sites, being anticipated to improve the performance of surface-related applications. Herein, for the first time, 2D Nb₂AlC nanosheets (NSs) as novel supports anchored with Ru catalysts for overall water splitting are developed. The optimized catalyst of Ru@Nb₂AlC NSs exhibit Pt-comparable kinetics and superior catalytic activity toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) (low overpotentials of 61 and 169 mV at 10 and 100 mA cm^-2, respectively) with excellent durability (5000 cycles or 80 h) in alkaline media. In particular, Ru@Nb₂AlC NSs achieve a mass activity of ≈4.8 times larger than the commercial Pt/C (20 wt.%) catalyst. The post-oxidation resultant catalyst of RuO₂@Nb₂AlC NSs also exhibit boosting HER and oxygen evolution reaction activities and ≈100% Faraday efficiency for overall water splitting with a cell voltage of 1.61 V to achieve 10 mA cm^-2. Therefore, the novel category of 2D MAX supports anchored with Ru nanocrystals offers a novel strategy for designing a wide range of MAX-supported metal catalysts for the renewable energy field.