Defect Engineered Ru-CoMOF@MoS₂ Heterointerface Facilitate Water Oxidation Process

Catalyst design plays a critical role in ensuring sustainable and effective energy conversion. Electrocatalytic materials need to be able to control active sites and introduce defects in both acidic and alkaline electrolytes. Furthermore, producing efficient catalysts with a distinct surface structure advances our comprehension of the mechanism. Here, a defect-engineered heterointerface of ruthenium doped cobalt metal organic frame (Ru-CoMOF) core confined in MoS₂ is reported. A tailored design approach at room temperature was used to induce defects and form an electron transfer interface that enhanced the electrocatalytic performance. The Ru-CoMOF@MoS₂ heterointerface obtains a geometrical current density of 10 mA^-2 by providing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at small overpotentials of 240 and 289 mV, respectively. Density functional theory simulation shows that the Co-site maximizes the evolution of hydrogen intermediate energy for adsorption and enhances HER, while the Ru-site, on the other hand, is where OER happens. The heterointerface provides a channel for electron transfer and promotes reactions at the solid-liquid interface. The Ru-CoMOF@MoS₂ model exhibits improved OER and HER efficiency, indicating that it could be a valuable material for the production of water-alkaline and acidic catalysts.