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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

A Simple, Low-cost, and Robust System to Measure the Volume of Hydrogen Evolved by Chemical Reactions with Aqueous Solutions
Published on: August 17, 2016
Ultrafine Ru nanoparticles stabilized by V8C7/C for enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction at all pH
Yanju Long1, Yong Shen1, Pingping Jiang1
1Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry of Ministry of Education, Lehn Institute of Functional Materials, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for High Performance Polymeric Composites, Institute of Green Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, School of Chemistry, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Abstract:
The development of cost-effective electrocatalysts with high efficiency and long durability for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) remains a great challenge in the field of water splitting. Herein, we design an ultrafine and highly dispersed Ru nanoparticles stabilized on porous V8C7/C matrix via pyrolysis of the metal-organic frameworks V-BDC (BDC: 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate). The obtained Ru-V8C7/C composite exhibits excellent HER performance in all pH ranges. At the overpotential of 40 mV, its mass activity is about 1.9, 4.1 and 9.4 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C in acidic, neutral and alkaline media, respectively. Meanwhile, Ru-V8C7/C shows the remarkably high stability in all pH ranges which, in particular, can maintain the current density of 10 mA cm-2 for over 150 h in 1.0 mol L-1 phosphate buffer saline (PBS). This outstanding HER performance can be attributed to the high intrinsic activity of Ru species and their strong interface interactions to the V8C7/C substrate. The synergistic effect of abundant active sites on the surface and the formed Ru-C-V units at the interface promotes the adsorption of reaction intermediates and the release of active sites, contributing the fast HER kinetics. This work provides a reference for developing versatile and robust HER catalysts by surface and interface regulation for pH tolerance.
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