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Highly Dispersed Cu Promoters Enable Efficient Ru Catalysts for Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution
Wenbo Li1, Zhen Jiang1, Yongjun Jiang1
1Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Joint International Research Laboratory of Precision Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Centre, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology, Shanghai, China.
Developing advanced catalysts for hydrogen production is crucial for renewable energy. This study engineered a highly dispersed Ru-Cu catalyst for efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), significantly boosting performance and durability.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Catalysis
Background:
- Alkaline water electrolysis is a sustainable method for hydrogen production.
- Developing platinum-free electrocatalysts with high activity and durability for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is challenging due to slow water dissociation kinetics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To engineer the interfacial electronic structure of Ruthenium (Ru) for efficient alkaline HER.
- To investigate the effect of Copper (Cu) dispersion state on Ru's catalytic activity and durability.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of carbon-supported Ru-Cu catalysts with varying Cu dispersion (highly dispersed Ru-CuHD/C and nanocluster Ru-CuNC/C).
- Electrochemical characterization in 1.0 m KOH, including overpotential and Tafel slope measurements.
- Accelerated degradation testing to assess catalyst stability.
- Density functional theory (DFT) calculations to elucidate reaction mechanisms.
Main Results:
- Ru-CuHD/C exhibited an ultralow overpotential of 14 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² and a Tafel slope of 25 mV dec⁻¹.
- The catalyst maintained nearly 100% activity after 10,000 degradation cycles, outperforming Ru-CuNC/C.
- DFT calculations confirmed that dispersed Cu species modulate Ru sites, promoting water activation and yielding superior intrinsic HER activity.
Conclusions:
- Regulating Cu dispersion on Ru nanoparticles is an effective strategy for enhancing alkaline HER performance.
- Highly dispersed Cu species electronically modulate Ru sites, facilitating water activation and improving catalyst durability.
- This interfacial electronic engineering approach offers a general pathway for designing high-performance, platinum-free alkaline HER electrocatalysts.
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