Fe(OH)x modified ultra-small Ru nanoparticles for highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction and its application in water splitting

Yufan Mo; Dongdong Du; Yiyun Du; Yongjun Feng; Pinggui Tang; Dianqing Li

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2024.01.018

Fe(OH)_x modified ultra-small Ru nanoparticles for highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction and its application in water splitting

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2024 Apr:659:697-706. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.01.018. Epub 2024 Jan 7.

Authors

Yufan Mo¹, Dongdong Du¹, Yiyun Du², Yongjun Feng¹, Pinggui Tang³, Dianqing Li¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China.
² State Nuclear Electric Power Planning Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd., State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation: SPIC, Beijing 100095, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China. Electronic address: tangpg@mail.buct.edu.cn.

PMID: 38211487
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.01.018

Abstract

Developing highly active electrocatalysts for overall water splitting is of remarkable significance for industrial production of H₂. Herein, exceptionally active Fe(OH)_x modified ultra-small Ru nanoparticles on Ni(OH)₂ nanosheets array (Fe(OH)_x-Ru/Ni(OH)₂) for both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are reported. The Fe(OH)_x-Ru/Ni(OH)₂ nanosheets array prepared with Fe/Ru molar ratio of 5 only requires extremely low overpotentials of 61, 127 and 170 mV to reach current densities of 100, 500 and 800 mA cm^-2 in 1 M KOH, respectively, exceeding Pt/C catalyst (75, 160 and 177 mV). Meanwhile, the Fe(OH)_x/Ni(OH)₂ nanosheets array derived from Fe(OH)_x-Ru/Ni(OH)₂ exhibits excellent OER activity. It gains current densities of 100, 500 and 800 mA cm^-2 at considerably low overpotentials of 265, 285 and 296 mV, respectively, much lower than those of RuO₂ and most reported electrocatalysts. The introduction of Fe(OH)_x significantly improves the HER activity of Ru nanoparticles by tunning the electronic structure and forming interfaces between Ru and Fe(OH)_x. Dramatically, the integrated alkaline electrolyzer based on Fe(OH)_x-Ru/Ni(OH)₂ and Fe(OH)_x/Ni(OH)₂ nanosheets array pair just needs 1.649 V to yield a current density up to 500 mA cm^-2, exceeding most reported water-splitting electrocatalysts. The strategy reported in this work can be facilely extended to prepare other similar Ru based materials and their derivatives with outstanding catalytic performance for water splitting.

Keywords: Electrocatalysis; Hydrogen evolution reaction; Nanosheets array; Overall water splitting; Oxygen evolution reaction.