Ruthenium atomically dispersed in carbon outperforms platinum toward hydrogen evolution in alkaline media

Autor: Yi Peng, Peng Gao, Jia En Lu, Bingzhang Lu, Nan Wang, Tyler J. Smart, David Morris, Peng Zhang, Guo Lin, Yuan Ping, Shaowei Chen, Feng Wu, Ning Li, Y. Zou Finfrock
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Nature Communications, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2019)
Nature communications, vol 10, iss 1
Nature Communications
ISSN: 2041-1723
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08419-3
Popis: Hydrogen evolution reaction is an important process in electrochemical energy technologies. Herein, ruthenium and nitrogen codoped carbon nanowires are prepared as effective hydrogen evolution catalysts. The catalytic performance is markedly better than that of commercial platinum catalyst, with an overpotential of only −12 mV to reach the current density of 10 mV cm-2 in 1 M KOH and −47 mV in 0.1 M KOH. Comparisons with control experiments suggest that the remarkable activity is mainly ascribed to individual ruthenium atoms embedded within the carbon matrix, with minimal contributions from ruthenium nanoparticles. Consistent results are obtained in first-principles calculations, where RuCxNy moieties are found to show a much lower hydrogen binding energy than ruthenium nanoparticles, and a lower kinetic barrier for water dissociation than platinum. Among these, RuC2N2 stands out as the most active catalytic center, where both ruthenium and adjacent carbon atoms are the possible active sites.
Electrochemical water splitting is promising for sustainable energy, but relies on development of electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution. Here the authors report nitrogen- and ruthenium-codoped carbon nanowires in which ruthenium atoms in a carbon matrix drive electrocatalysis of hydrogen evolution
Databáze: OpenAIRE