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Interface Engineering Induced by Low Ru Doping in Ni/Co@NC Derived from Ni-ZIF-67 for Enhanced Electrocatalytic
Abdulwahab Salah1, Hong-Da Ren2, Nabilah Al-Ansi3
1Interdisciplinary Research Center for Hydrogen Technologies and Carbon Management, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
|October 23, 2024
Summary
Researchers developed a novel trimetallic catalyst (Ru/Ni/Co@NC) for efficient electrochemical water splitting. This catalyst significantly improves both hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions, offering a promising solution for clean energy production.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Catalysis
Background:
- Electrochemical water splitting is crucial for hydrogen production, but the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is kinetically challenging.
- High-performance electrocatalysts are essential to overcome OER bottlenecks and improve overall water splitting (OWS) efficiency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To synthesize and characterize a trimetallic heterostructure catalyst (Ru/Ni/Co@NC) for enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and OER.
- To investigate the catalytic performance of the novel catalyst for overall water splitting in an alkaline medium.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of Ni/Co@NC from Ni-ZIF-67 via carbonization.
- Incorporation of Ruthenium (Ru) via galvanic replacement to form Ru/Ni/Co@NC.
- Electrocatalytic performance testing for HER, OER, and OWS.
- Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations to elucidate reaction mechanisms.
Main Results:
- The optimized Ru/Ni/Co@NC catalyst showed low overpotentials: 34 mV for HER and 174 mV for OER at 10 mA/cm².
- Achieved low Tafel slopes (33.42 mV/dec for HER, 34.39 mV/dec for OER) indicating efficient kinetics.
- Demonstrated a low cell voltage of 1.44 V for alkaline water splitting.
- DFT calculations confirmed enhanced H* adsorption and reduced OER energy barriers.
Conclusions:
- The Ru/Ni/Co@NC trimetallic heterostructure exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity for HER and OER.
- The catalyst design optimizes active sites, electronic structure, and interfacial synergy for efficient water splitting.
- ZIF-67-derived catalysts show significant potential for energy conversion and storage applications.
