Microwave Quasi-Solid State to Construct Boron-Doped Black TiO₂ Supported Ru as Advanced Electrocatalyst for Seawater...

Metal oxides have emerged as the dominant choice of matrix for the design and synthesis of supported catalysts with high-performance, because of the tunable surface properties, low cost, and strong interactions with active components. Herein, the nanoflower-like titanium dioxide (TiO₂) is achieved through solvothermal approach. Then, boron (B) doped black TiO₂ loaded with Ru (Ru/B-TiO₂) is achieved through rapid (40 s) microwave quasi-solid approach. The incorporation of B modulates the energy band structure of the electrocatalyst, creating additional active sites, and then favors the water dissociation and following hydrogen desorption. The presence of oxygen vacancy defects and metal-support interactions (MSI) lead to satisfactory stabilization of the catalysts. These effects collectively contributed to the superior performance in 1 M KOH and alkaline seawater for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with small overpotentials of 39 and 61 mV, respectively, which also demonstrates excellent activity and stability. This work presents a novel microwave-assisted strategy for constructing metal oxide supported low-content noble metals for energy conversion and storage applications.