N‐Doped Carbon Shells Encapsulated Ru‐Ni Nanoalloys for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

The alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is of great significance for the large‐scale green H2 production. Currently, pressing challenges in the fabrication of cost‐effective HER electrocatalysts are related to their sluggish water dissociation kinetics. Herein, a facile strategy to accelerate the desorption of HER intermediates and water dissociation is proposed. RuNi nanoalloy confined within N‐doped carbon shells (Ru7Ni3@NC/C) with optimized Ru/Ni ratio and the dicyandiamide dosage was prepared. It displays an overpotential (η10) of 16 mV, Tafel slope of 29.9 mV dec−1, and long‐term stability over 10 000 cycles. The decent HER performance on Ru7Ni3@NC/C stems from the core‐shell structure that is favoring the exposure of dispersed active sites, and the synergistic effect to promote water capture and dissociation. This work provides insight into the relationship between the HER performance and the electrochemical behavior of the intermediate adsorbed state, and paves an avenue toward rational design efficient electrocatalysts for HER.

RuNi single-atom alloy anchored on rGO as an outstanding bifunctional catalyst for efficient electrochemical water splitting

“…2(c), two characteristic peaks at 875.5 eV and 855.8 eV can be attributed to the Ni 2p 1/2 and Ni 2p 3/2 of Ni 2+ respectively, along with two satellite peaks located at 861.5 eV and 880.2 eV. 23,30,40 Moreover, the peaks at about 873.5 eV and 853.8 eV are ascribed to the characteristic peaks of Ni 0 species, certifying the existence of metallic Ni in RuNi@rGO. 18,41,42 Compared with Ni@rGO, the Ni 2p 3/2 and Ni 2p 1/2 of Ni 0 for RuNi@rGO positively shifts by 0.5 eV, signifying the presence of the electron transfer from Ni to Ru, and the electron density of Ni is decreased.…”

“…29 Wang and co-workers prepared a RuNi nanoalloy (Ru 7 Ni 3 @NC/C) confined within an N-doped carbon shell, which only needs a low overpotential of 16 mV to demonstrate superior catalytic HER activity. 30 In addition, Chen et al prepared RuNi alloy nanoparticles anchored on a carbon substrate (RuNi/C) with an ultra-low HER overpotential of 19.5 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm −2 . 31 In spite of these achievements, the fabrication process of RuNi/carbon composites is usually tedious and expensive, and the electrocatalytic performance still need to be improved to meet the demand of large-scale commercial application.…”

Strain-Engineered Ru-NiCr LDH Nanosheets Boosting Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

“…As an alternative, Ru is regarded as a promising catalyst for alkaline HER due to its low water dissociation energy barrier and relatively low price compared with other Pt group metals . Nevertheless, the HER performance of Ru is still inferior to that of Pt owing to its relatively strong hydrogen adsorption . Therefore, it is essential to tune the hydrogen adsorption strength of Ru to enhance the HER performance.…”

Enhancing acidic hydrogen evolution through pyrrolic nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide triggering two-electron oxygen reduction

“…[17][18][19] Thus, developing cost-effective, highly active, and durable electrocatalysts offers an ideal alternative to precious metal catalysts. [20][21][22] Presently, non-precious metal-based catalysts, including metal oxides, layered double hydroxides, carbides, nitrides, phosphides, and sulfides, [23][24][25][26][27][28][29] as well as carbon-based materials, Prussian blue materials, and nanoalloys, [30][31][32][33][34] have demonstrated excellent catalytic activity or extended catalytic life. Among them, carbon-based materials, characterized by their low cost, abundant resources, ease of doping, and large specific surface areas, present significant advantages compared to metal-based catalysts.…”