Synthesis of Hierarchical 4H/fcc Ru Nanotubes for Highly Efficient Hydrogen Evolution in Alkaline Media

Qipeng Lu; An-Liang Wang; Hongfei Cheng; Yue Gong; Qinbai Yun; Nailiang Yang; Bing Li; Bo Chen; Qinghua Zhang; Yun Zong; Lin Gu; Hua Zhang

doi:10.1002/smll.201801090

Synthesis of Hierarchical 4H/fcc Ru Nanotubes for Highly Efficient Hydrogen Evolution in Alkaline Media

Small. 2018 Jul;14(30):e1801090. doi: 10.1002/smll.201801090. Epub 2018 Jun 28.

Authors

Qipeng Lu¹, An-Liang Wang¹, Hongfei Cheng¹, Yue Gong², Qinbai Yun¹, Nailiang Yang¹, Bing Li³, Bo Chen¹, Qinghua Zhang², Yun Zong³, Lin Gu^{2

4

5}, Hua Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Programmable Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
² Institute of Physics, Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
³ Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), 2 Fusionopolis Way, Innovis #08-03, Singapore, 138634, Singapore.
⁴ Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, 100190, China.
⁵ School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.

PMID: 29956483
DOI: 10.1002/smll.201801090

Abstract

Hierarchical metal nanostructures containing 1D nanobuilding blocks have stimulated great interest due to their abundant active sites for catalysis. Herein, hierarchical 4H/face-centered cubic (fcc) Ru nanotubes (NTs) are synthesized by a hard template-mediated method, in which 4H/fcc Au nanowires (NWs) serve as sacrificial templates which are then etched by copper ions (Cu²⁺ ) in dimethylformamide. The obtained hierarchical 4H/fcc Ru NTs contain ultrathin Ru shells (5-9 atomic layers) and tiny Ru nanorods with length of 4.2 ± 1.1 nm and diameter of 2.2 ± 0.5 nm vertically decorated on the surface of Ru shells. As an electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline media, the hierarchical 4H/fcc Ru NTs exhibit excellent electrocatalytic performance, which is better than 4H/fcc Au-Ru NWs, commercial Pt/C, Ru/C, and most of the reported electrocatalysts.

Keywords: electrocatalysts; hierarchical structures; hydrogen evolution; nanotubes.