Synthesis of Mo and Ru solid-solution alloy NPs and their hydrogen evolution reaction activity.

We report the synthesis of MoRu solid-solution alloy nanoparticles using carbonyl complexes as a precursor through thermal decomposition. Alloying Ru with an early transition metal, Mo, leads to an electronic structure change, resulting in an enhancement of the catalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction, which overtook that of the Pt catalyst.