Activating ruthenium dioxide via compressive strain achieving efficient multifunctional electrocatalysis for Zn‐air batteries and overall water splitting

Abstract

Surface strain engineering is a promising strategy to design various electrocatalysts for sustainable energy storage and conversion. However, achieving the multifunctional activity of the catalyst via the adjustment of strain engineering remains a major challenge. Herein, an excellent trifunctional electrocatalyst (Ru/RuO 2 @NCS) is prepared by anchoring lattice mismatch strained core/shell Ru/RuO 2 nanocrystals on nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets. Core/shell Ru/RuO 2 nanocrystals with ~5 atomic layers of RuO 2 shells eliminate the ligand effect and produce ~2% of the surface compressive strain, which can boost the trifunctional activity (oxygen evolution reaction [OER], oxygen reduction reaction [ORR], and hydrogen evolution reaction [HER]) of the catalyst. When equipped in rechargeable Zn-air batteries, the Ru/RuO 2 @NCS endows them with high power (137.1 mW cm À2 ) and energy (714.9 Wh kg Zn À1) density and excellent cycle stability.Moreover, the as-fabricated Zn-air batteries can drive a water splitting electrolyzer assembled with Ru/RuO 2 @NCS and achieve a current density of 10 mA cm À2 only requires a low potential ~1.51 V. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the compressive strained RuO 2 could reduce the reaction barrier and improve the binding of rate-determining intermediates (*OH, *O, *OOH, and *H), leading to the enhanced catalytic activity and stability. This work can provide a novel avenue for the rational design of multifunctional catalysts in future clean energy fields.

Ru/Se‐RuO2 Composites via Controlled Selenization Strategy for Enhanced Acidic Oxygen Evolution

“…Figure 2k represents the HAADF‐STEM image of a well‐resolved interface with distinct lattice fringes of 3.17 Å ascribed to the (110) lattice plane of the RuO 2 phase, as well as 2.07 Å ascribed to the (101) lattice plane assigned to metallic Ru, respectively, revealing the in situ generation of partially reduced Ru nanostructures on the surface of RuO 2 substrate by design. [ 35,36 ]…”

The active ruthenium (101) crystal plane selectively exposed byin situmetal hyperaccumulation on a living plant for overall water splitting

“…3i). [53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64] In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the reaction activity mechanism and have a deeper insight into the superior HER performance of the catalyst combining the results of experiments and previous works, 65 we built different Ru crystal plane models based on the XRD preferred orientation results, which are (101), (100), and (002) planes (shown in Fig. S17 †).…”

Interface engineering of bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts for rechargeable Zn–air batteries

“…24,102 Typically, the construction of a well-defined interfacial structure by employing different crystallized materials inevitably leads to rearrangement of the atoms at the interface to create the lattice strain stemming from the lattice mismatch between the dissimilar materials. 103,104 The energy levels near the Fermi level are intensely related to the orbital interaction of neighboring atoms in the crystal, and the coupling strength is highly dependent on the strain variations. 105 The lattice strain effect, either compressive or tensile, can be explained by the d-band theory.…”