Low Ruthenium Content Confined on Boron Carbon Nitride as an Efficient and Stable Electrocatalyst for Acidic Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Xiaofang Bai; Xiuping Zhang; Yujiao Sun; Mingcheng Huang; Jiantao Fan; Shaoyi Xu; Hui Li

doi:10.1002/anie.202308704

Low Ruthenium Content Confined on Boron Carbon Nitride as an Efficient and Stable Electrocatalyst for Acidic Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2023 Sep 18;62(38):e202308704. doi: 10.1002/anie.202308704. Epub 2023 Aug 10.

Authors

Xiaofang Bai¹, Xiuping Zhang¹, Yujiao Sun¹, Mingcheng Huang¹, Jiantao Fan^{2

3}, Shaoyi Xu^{2

3}, Hui Li^{1

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, 518055, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
² Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Southern University of Science and Technology, 518055, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
³ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Materials for Electric Power, Southern University of Science and Technology, 518055, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
⁴ Key University Laboratory of Highly Efficient Utilization of Solar Energy and Sustainable Development, Southern University of Science and Technology, 518055, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
⁵ Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Hydrogen Energy, Southern University of Science and Technology, 518055, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.

PMID: 37489759
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202308704

Abstract

To date, only a few noble metal oxides exhibit the required efficiency and stability as oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts under the acidic, high-voltage conditions that exist during proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE). The high cost and scarcity of these catalysts hinder the large-scale application of PEMWE. Here, we report a novel OER electrocatalyst for OER comprised of uniformly dispersed Ru clusters confined on boron carbon nitride (BCN) support. Compared to RuO₂ , our BCN-supported catalyst shows enhanced charge transfer. It displays a low overpotential of 164 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^-2 , suggesting its excellent OER catalytic activity. This catalyst was able to operate continuously for over 12 h under acidic conditions, whereas RuO₂ without any support fails in 1 h. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirm that the interaction between the N on BCN support and Ru clusters changes the adsorption capacity and reduces the OER energy barrier, which increases the electrocatalytic activity of Ru.

Keywords: Boron Carbon Nitride; Catalyst; Oxygen Evolution Reaction; Ruthenium; Water Splitting.

Abstract

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