Metal Atoms and Quantum Dots Coexist for Water Electrolysis

How to manipulate the surface of the supports to control metal atoms is frontier research that has emerged in recent years in the field of catalysis. However, the precise and controllable synthesis of metal atom systems with well-defined structure and valence states remains a significant challenge. Herein, based on theoretical predictions, we report a new catalytic system of GDY, where metal atoms and quantum dots coexist. Precise structural studies have determined that Ni atoms and RuNi_x quantum dots (denoted as Ni-RuNi_x/GDY) are distributed on GDY surface. GDY has the ability to act as an electronic medium to control the strong interaction between Ni atom and sp-C within a long-range distance, leading to promote the hydrolysis abilities of Ni atom adjacent to RuNi_x. The as-synthesized Ni-RuNi_x/GDY catalyst exhibits astonishing results in the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), with overpotentials of only 17 mV and 116 mV achieving current densities of 10 and 1000 mA cm^{- 2}, respectively. This work presents a new method for creating highly efficient multi-component atom catalysts, and a new concept for long-range control of catalysis to open up new routes for the frontier research on developing advanced catalytic systems in the future.