Ru–Fe4C nanoparticles loaded on N-doped carbon nanofibers as self-supporting high-efficiency hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts

Abstract

Catalysts with high catalytic activity and low cost are extremely significant for hydrogen production by water cracking. In this work, through simple electrospinning and carbonization methods, Ru with excellent catalytic activity is dispersed onto Fe₄C to form Ru–Fe₄C nanoparticles loaded on N-doped carbon nanofibers (Ru–Fe₄C/NCNF), so that Ru can expose more active sites and thus improve HER catalytic activity. Meanwhile, the addition of low-cost Fe can reduce the use of noble metal Ru, thereby reducing the catalyst cost. On the other hand, the prepared Ru–Fe₄C/NCNF can be used as a self-supporting working electrode and shows good stability. The experimental results show that the prepared Ru–Fe₄C/NCNF can drive a current density of 10 mA cm⁻² with only 106 mV in 1 M KOH, and more importantly, only 254 mV can produce a current density of 100 mA cm⁻². At the same time, it shows excellent stability after continuously working for 100 h at a current density of 100 mA cm⁻². This work provides a new thought to synthesize economical catalysts with high catalytic activity.