The development of bifunctional water‐splitting electrocatalysts that are efficient and stable over a wide range of pH is of great significance but challenging. Here, an atomically dispersed Ru/Co dual‐sites catalyst is reported anchored on N‐doped carbon (Ru/Co–N–C) for outstanding oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in both acidic and alkaline electrolytes. The Ru/Co–N–C catalyst requires the overpotential of only 13 and 23 mV for HER, 232 and 247 mV for OER to deliver a current density of 10 mA cmgeo−2 in 0.5 m H2SO4 and 1 m KOH, respectively, outperforming benchmark catalysts Pt/C and RuO2. Theoretical calculations reveal that the introduction of Co–N4 sites into Ru/Co–N–C efficiently modify the electronic structure of Ru by enlarging Ru–O covalency and increasing Ru electron density, which in turn optimize the bonding strength between oxygen/hydrogen intermediate species with Ru sites, thereby enhancing OER and HER performance. Furthermore, the incorporation of Co–N4 sites induces electron redistribution around Ru–N4, thus enhancing corrosion–resistance of Ru/Co–N–C during acid and alkaline electrolysis. The Ru/Co–N–C has been applied in a proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer and steady operation is demonstrated at a high current density of 450 mA cmgeo−2 for 330 h.
Nickel-based electrocatalysts are promising candidates for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) but suffer from high activation overpotentials. Herein, in situ structural reconstruction of V-doped Ni 2 P pre-catalyst to form highly active NiV oxyhydroxides for OER is reported, during which the partial dissolution of V creates a disordered Ni structure with an enlarged electrochemical surface area. Operando electrochemical impedance spectroscopy reveals that the synergistic interaction between the Ni hosts and the remaining V dopants can regulate the electronic structure of NiV oxyhydroxides, which leads to enhanced kinetics for the adsorption of *OH and deprotonation of *OOH intermediates. Raman spectroscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy further demonstrate that the increased content of active β-NiOOH phase with the disordered Ni active sites contributes to OER activity enhancement. Density functional theory calculations verify that the V dopants facilitate the generation of *O intermediates during OER, which is the rate-determining step for realizing efficient O 2 evolution. Optimization of these properties endows the NiV oxyhydroxide electrode with a low overpotential of 221 mV to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm −2 and excellent stability in the alkaline electrolyte.
Catalytic synergy is an unresolved activity descriptor in energy conversion reactions. Here, this study reports the synergistically enhanced intrinsic oxygen evolution reaction activity of a FeNi model catalyst modified with molybdate oxo‐anions via concertedly boosted surface/interface interactions such as interfacial charge transfer, surface intermediate adsorption, in situ phase transformation, and gas bubble evolution. Capturing such cosynergistic impact reveals the accelerated transition of oxygen deprotonation to oxyhydroxide state, ready‐to‐function Fe and Ni active sites, the instant transformation of Fe and Ni local microenvironments to γ ‐FeOOH and β ‐NiOOH phases, and ultrafast gas bubble growth and release. The accelerated oxygen bubble evolution dynamic is monitored in operando with a decreased dynamic variation of the interfacial Faradaic resistance. Such cosynergistic molybdate modification results in a tenfold increase in oxygen evolution turnover frequency as well as a 55 mV decrease in the overpotentials to deliver 10 and 1000 mA cm−2 with respect to the FeNi‐model catalyst.
Developing platinum-free catalysts for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) is crucial to the hydrogen economy. While iron-nitrogen-carbon (Fe-N-C) catalyst is currently the most promising non-Pt alternative for the ORR,...
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