Ultralow RuO₂ Doped NiS₂ Heterojunction as a Multifunctional Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution linking to...

Hydrogen energy and biomass energy are green and sustainable forms that can solve the energy crisis all over the world. Electrocatalytic water splitting is a marvelous way to produce hydrogen and biomass platform molecules can be added into the electrolyte to reduce the overpotential and meanwhile are converted into some useful organics, but the key point is the design of electrocatalyst. Herein, ultralow noble metal Ru is doped into NiS₂ to form RuO₂@NiS₂ heterojunction. Amongst them, the 0.06 RuO₂@NiS₂ has low overpotentials of 363 mV for OER and 71 mV for HER in 1 m KOH, which are superior to the RuO₂ and Pt/C. Besides, the 0.06 RuO₂@NiS₂ shows a low overpotential of 173 mV in 1 m KOH+0.1 m glycerol, and the glycerol is oxidized to glyceraldehyde and formic acid via the high Faraday efficiency GlyOR process, and the splitting voltage is only 1.17 V. In addition, the 0.06 RuO₂@NiS₂ has a low overpotential of 206 mV in 1 m KOH+0.1 m glucose, and the glucose is converted to glucaric acid, lactic acid, and formic acid. This work has a "one stone three birds" effect for the production of hydrogen, low splitting voltage, and high-value-added biomass chemicals.