Highly efficient sub-nanometer RuxCuyP2 nanoclusters designed for hydrogen evolution under alkaline media

Beibei Yang; Duan Bin; Qingmei Zhong; Binxiao Li; Yixin Liu; Hongbin Lu; Baohong Liu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2021.06.009

Highly efficient sub-nanometer Ru_xCu_yP₂ nanoclusters designed for hydrogen evolution under alkaline media

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2021 Nov 15:602:222-231. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.06.009. Epub 2021 Jun 4.

Authors

Beibei Yang¹, Duan Bin², Qingmei Zhong³, Binxiao Li³, Yixin Liu³, Hongbin Lu⁴, Baohong Liu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nantong University, Nantong 226000, China; Department of Chemistry, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
² Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nantong University, Nantong 226000, China; Department of Chemistry, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. Electronic address: dbin17@fudan.edu.cn.
³ Department of Chemistry, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
⁴ Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nantong University, Nantong 226000, China. Electronic address: luhb@ntu.edu.cn.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. Electronic address: bhliu@fudan.edu.cn.

PMID: 34119759
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.06.009

Abstract

Design of highly active and stable non-precious electrocatalysts towards hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a hot research topic in low cost, clean and sustainable hydrogen energy field, yet remaining the important challenge caused by the sluggish reaction kinetics for water-alkali electrolyzers. Herein, a robust electrocatalyst is proposed by designing a novel sub-nanometer of copper and ruthenium bimetallic phosphide nanoclusters (Ru_xCu_yP₂) supported on a graphited carbon nanofibers (CNF). Uniform Ru_xCu_yP₂ (~1.90 nm) on the surface of CNF are obtained by introducing the dispersed Ru, thereby improving the intrinsic activity for HER. On optimizing the Ru ratio, the (x = y = 1) RuCuP₂/CNF catalyst exhibits an excellent HER electroactivity with an overpotential of 10 mV in 1.0 M NaOH electrolyte to produce 10 mA cm^-2 current density, which is lower than commercial 20% Pt/C in alkaline solution. Moreover, the kinetic study demonstrated that electrochemical activation energies for HER of RuCuP₂/CNF is 20.7 kJ mol^-1 highest among different ratio bimetallic phosphide. This simple, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly methodology can pave the way for exploitation of bimetallic phosphide nanoclusters for catalyst design.

Keywords: Alkaline media; Bimetallic phosphide; Hydrogen evolution reaction; Sub-nanometer.