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Updated: Sep 19, 2025
10:39
Heterogeneous Removal of Water-Soluble Ruthenium Olefin Metathesis Catalyst from Aqueous Media Via Host-Guest Interaction
Published on: August 23, 2018
8.0K
Oxygen-modified Ru for efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction.
Youpeng Cao1, Xingshuai Lv1, Jiao Yang1
1Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering, University of Macau, Macao SAR, 999078, China. huipan@um.edu.mo.
Dalton Transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003)
|June 2, 2025
Summary
Oxygen modification significantly enhances ruthenium catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The improved Ru/C-220 catalyst shows superior performance for water electrolysis, offering a cost-effective alternative to platinum.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Catalysis
Background:
- Ruthenium (Ru) is a promising, affordable catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), but its activity is often insufficient for practical water electrolysis.
- Enhancing Ru-based catalysts is crucial for advancing efficient and cost-effective hydrogen production.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an oxygen-modified ruthenium catalyst (Ru/C-220) with superior HER performance.
- To investigate the role of oxygen modification in enhancing the catalytic activity of ruthenium.
Main Methods:
- Air annealing of Ru/C catalyst to create Ru/C-220.
- Electrochemical characterization including overpotential and Tafel slope measurements.
- X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for surface analysis.
- Underpotential-deposited hydrogen (Hupd) tests and density-functional-theory (DFT) calculations.
- Anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) testing.
Main Results:
- Ru/C-220 achieved an overpotential of 18 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² and a Tafel slope of 34.9 mV dec⁻¹.
- Mass activity increased approximately five-fold compared to the unannealed catalyst.
- XPS revealed higher lattice-O²⁻ and Ru⁴⁺ content in Ru/C-220.
- DFT and Hupd tests confirmed optimized *H adsorption energy due to oxygen modification.
- AEMWE tests demonstrated the practical application potential of the modified catalyst.
Conclusions:
- Oxygen modification of ruthenium catalysts significantly boosts HER performance.
- The enhanced activity is attributed to reduced and optimized hydrogen adsorption energy at Ru active sites.
- The Ru/C-220 catalyst shows great promise for large-scale water electrolysis applications.
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