Ruthenium nanoparticles integrated bimetallic metal–organic framework electrocatalysts for multifunctional electrode materials and practical water electrolysis in seawater

Abstract

There is still a significant technical hurdle in the integration of better electrocatalysts with coordinated functional units and morphological integrity that improves reversible electrochemical activity, electrical conductivity, and mass transport capabilities. In this work, ruthenium-integrating porous bimetallic transition metal nanoarrays are efficiently generated from metal–organic framework-covered three-dimensional platforms such as carbon cloth using a simple solution-based deposition technique followed by calcination. Heterostructure ruthenium–cobalt–iron hollow nanoarrays are built to permit exceptionally effective multifunctional activities in reactions including the oxygen evolution reaction, hydrogen evolution reaction, and oxygen reduction reaction. As presumed, the as-synthesized porous nanostructured arrays show remarkable electrochemical performance due to the benefits of copious active reaction sites, and efficient electron and ion transport channels. The oxygen reduction reaction of the porous nanostructured array electrocatalyst has a half-wave potential of 0.875 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode and can achieve a current density of 10 mA cm⁻² at low overpotentials of 220 and 50 mV for the oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions, respectively, and the needed cell voltage for total water splitting is just 1.49 V at a current density of 10 mA cm⁻². The fabricated electrolyzer coupling splits seawater at relatively low cell voltages of 1.54 V at ambient temperature.