Alleviating the competitive adsorption of hydrogen and hydroxyl intermediates on Ru by d-p orbital hybridization for hydrogen electrooxidation
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Updated: Jul 4, 2025

Multiscale Sampling of a Heterogeneous Water/Metal Catalyst Interface using Density Functional Theory and Force-Field Molecular Dynamics
Published on: April 12, 2019
Youkai Feng1, Siguang Lu1, Luhong Fu2
1School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University Yangzhou Jiangsu 225002 China yangfl@yzu.edu.cn ligang.feng@yzu.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Strengthening the hydroxyl binding energy (OHBE) on Ru surfaces for efficient hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) in alkaline electrolytes at the expense of narrowing the effective potential window (EPW) increases the risk of passivation under transient conditions for the alkaline exchange membrane fuel cell technique. Herein, an effective Ru/NiSe2 catalyst was reported which exhibits a gradually enhanced intrinsic activity and slightly enlarged EPW with the increased degree of coupling between Ru and NiSe2. This promotion could be attributed to the optimized electron distribution and d-band structures of Ru surfaces weakening the hydrogen binding energy and especially the OHBE through the strong d-p orbital hybridization between Ru and NiSe2. Unlike the conventional way of strengthened OHBE enhancing the oxidative desorption of hydrogen intermediates (Had) via the bi-functional mechanism, the weakened OHBE on this Ru/NiSe2 model catalyst alleviates the competitive adsorption between Had and the hydroxyl intermediates (OHad), thereby accelerating the HOR kinetics at low overpotentials and hindering the full poisoning of the catalytic surfaces by strongly adsorbed OHad spectators at high overpotentials. The work reveals a missed but important approach for Ru-based catalyst development for the fuel cell technique.
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