Mu Xueqin, Gu Jiani, Feng Feiyan, Xiao Ziyin, Chen Changyun, Liu Suli, Mu Shichun
Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials of Nanjing Nanjing Xiaozhuang University Nanjing 211171 China.
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing Wuhan University of Technology Wuhan 430070 China.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2020 Dec 6;8(2):2002341. doi: 10.1002/advs.202002341. eCollection 2021 Jan.
Electrocatalysis of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a vital and demanding, yet challenging, task to produce clean energy applications. Here, the RuRh bimetallene nanoring with rich structural defects is designed and successfully synthesized by a mixed-solvent strategy, displaying ascendant HER performance with high mass activity at -0.05 and -0.07 V, separately higher than that of the commercial Pt catalyst. Also, it maintains steady hydrogen bubble evolution even after 30 000 potential cycles in acid media. Furthermore, the RuRh bimetallene nanoring shows an outstanding activity in both alkaline and neutral media, outperforming that of Pt catalysts and other reported HER catalysts. A combination of atomic-scale structure observation and density functional theory calculations demonstrates that both the grain boundaries and symmetry breaking of RuRh bimetallene cannot only weaken the adsorption strength of atomic hydrogen, but also facilitate the transfer of electrons and the adsorption of reactants, further boosting the HER electrocatalytic performance in all pH values.
析氢反应（HER）的电催化对于清洁能源应用来说是一项至关重要且要求苛刻但又具有挑战性的任务。在此，通过混合溶剂策略设计并成功合成了具有丰富结构缺陷的RuRh双金属烯纳米环，其在析氢反应中表现出优异性能，在-0.05 V和-0.07 V时具有高质量活性，分别高于商业Pt催化剂。此外，即使在酸性介质中经过30000次电位循环后，它仍能保持稳定的氢气泡析出。此外，RuRh双金属烯纳米环在碱性和中性介质中均表现出出色的活性，优于Pt催化剂和其他已报道的析氢反应催化剂。原子尺度结构观察和密度泛函理论计算相结合表明，RuRh双金属烯的晶界和对称性破缺不仅可以削弱原子氢的吸附强度，还能促进电子转移和反应物吸附，进而在所有pH值下提升析氢反应的电催化性能。
