Issue 22, 2022

Highly dispersed ruthenium nanoparticles on nitrogen doped carbon toward efficient hydrogen evolution in both alkaline and acidic electrolytes

Abstract

Efficient and inexpensive electrocatalysts toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) play an important role in electrochemical water splitting. Herein, we report the synthesis of highly dispersed ruthenium nanoparticles (2.2 ± 0.4 nm) on nitrogen doped carbon (Ru/N-C) by chemical reduction of RuCl3 on carbon in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone in combination with subsequent pyrolysis. Ru/N-C exhibits an excellent overpotential of 13.5 and 18.5 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in 1.0 M KOH and 0.5 M H2SO4 aqueous solution, respectively, much better than and comparable to those of commercial Pt/C (38.0 and 10.0 mV). The exceptional HER activity arises from high surface area of ultrafine Ru nanoparticles and appropriate Ru electronic state tuned by nitrogen dopant. Furthermore, Ru/N-C demonstrates excellent durability in both alkaline and acidic condition relative to commercial Pt/C. We speculate that the nitrogen dopant might have coordinated with Ru and tightly anchored Ru nanoparticles, preventing them from agglomerating.

Graphical abstract: Highly dispersed ruthenium nanoparticles on nitrogen doped carbon toward efficient hydrogen evolution in both alkaline and acidic electrolytes

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
27 Apr. 2022
Accepted
01 Maijs 2022
First published
10 Maijs 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2022,12, 13932-13937

Highly dispersed ruthenium nanoparticles on nitrogen doped carbon toward efficient hydrogen evolution in both alkaline and acidic electrolytes

G. Li, R. Gao, Z. Qiu, W. Liu and Y. Song, RSC Adv., 2022, 12, 13932 DOI: 10.1039/D2RA02671F

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