Electronic interaction of ruthenium species on bimetallic phosphide for superior electrocatalytic hydrogen generation

Yiming Guo; Guorong Zhou; Yun Tong

doi:10.1039/d3dt01786a

Electronic interaction of ruthenium species on bimetallic phosphide for superior electrocatalytic hydrogen generation

Dalton Trans. 2023 Sep 19;52(36):12733-12741. doi: 10.1039/d3dt01786a.

Authors

Yiming Guo¹, Guorong Zhou¹, Yun Tong¹

Affiliation

¹ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Surface & Interface Science of Polymer Materials of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, Zhejiang, China. tongyun@mail.ustc.edu.cn.

PMID: 37610334
DOI: 10.1039/d3dt01786a

Abstract

The exploitation of high-performance electrocatalysts to achieve the economic electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is significant in generating H₂ fuel. Enhancing the activity of the carrier catalyst by modifying trace precious metals is one of the important strategies. Herein, a hybrid material is developed by incorporating trace Ru species into a bimetallic phosphide (NiCoP) matrix on nickel foam (NF), showing a superior catalytic activity for HER. The Ru-NiCoP/NF hybrid material has plenty of heterointerfaces, improved electronic interaction, and small interfacial charge transfer resistance, improving the reaction kinetics of the HER. Remarkable, the Ru-NiCoP/NF provides a low overpotential of 96 mV at the current density of 50 mA cm^-2 and high stability in 1.0 M KOH solution presenting a promising potential for hydrogen production. In addition, the Ru-NiCoP/NF sample exhibits the highest TOF value of 0.54 s^-1 at an overpotential of 100 mV, which outperforms the commercial Ru/C catalyst. This study offers a promising approach for the synthesis of other precious metal supported hybrid materials.