Low-Pressure Plasma-Processed Ruthenium/Nickel Foam Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Chen Liu; Chia-Yun Tseng; Ying-Chyi Wang; I-Chun Cheng; Jian-Zhang Chen

doi:10.3390/ma15072603

Low-Pressure Plasma-Processed Ruthenium/Nickel Foam Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Materials (Basel). 2022 Apr 1;15(7):2603. doi: 10.3390/ma15072603.

Authors

Chen Liu^{1

2}, Chia-Yun Tseng^{1

2}, Ying-Chyi Wang^{1

2}, I-Chun Cheng^{3

4}, Jian-Zhang Chen^{1

2

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Graduate Institute of Applied Mechanics, National Taiwan University, Taipei City 10617, Taiwan.
² Advanced Research Center for Green Materials Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei City 10617, Taiwan.
³ Department of Electrical Engineering, Graduate Institute of Photonics and Optoelectronics, National Taiwan University, Taipei City 10617, Taiwan.
⁴ Innovative Photonics Advanced Research Center (i-PARC), National Taiwan University, Taipei City 10617, Taiwan.
⁵ Graduate School of Advanced Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei City 10617, Taiwan.

Abstract

In this paper, low-pressure 95%Ar-5%H₂, pure Ar, and 95%Ar-5%O₂ plasmas were used for post-treatment of ruthenium (Ru) deposited on nickel foam (NF) (Ru/NF). Ru/NF was then tested as a catalyst for a hydrogen evolution reaction. Significant improvement in electrocatalytic activity with the lowest overpotential and Tafel slope was observed in an alkaline electrolyte (1 M KOH) with 95%Ar-5%O₂ plasma processing on Ru/NF. Linear scanning electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) also indicate the lowest interfacial impedance and largest electrical double layer capacitance. Experimental results with 0.1 M phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and 0.5 M H₂SO₄ electrolytes were also demonstrated and compared.

Keywords: catalyst; electrolysis; hydrogen evolution reaction; plasma; ruthenium (Ru).

Abstract

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