Department of Chemistry and Green-Nano Materials Research Center, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea.
Department of Chemistry, Sogang University, Seoul 04107, Korea.
Nanoscale. 2023 Mar 23;15(12):5816-5824. doi: 10.1039/d2nr05881b.
Rational design of electrocatalysts, including an increased catalytic surface area, a unique surface structure, and improved conductivity, for facilitating the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is emerging as an important issue. In this work, we consider the engineering of catalyst surfaces as an effective and feasible way to accelerate the HER kinetics. By etching the surface Fe of FeRu alloy nanoparticles (NPs) using hydrofluoric acid (HF), a distorted catalytic surface of FeRu NPs was formed. The distorted surface of the HF-treated FeRu NPs was successfully analyzed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy, high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy, and electrochemical absorption/desorption experiments. The electrocatalytic HER activity of the HF-treated FeRu NPs demonstrated that surface distortion enhances the water dissociation reaction and the electron transfer rate. As a result, the surface-distorted FeRu NPs improved HER performances in alkaline media compared to the pristine FeRu alloy NP/C, commercial Ru/C, and the state-of-the-art Pt/C catalysts.
合理设计电催化剂，包括增加催化表面积、独特的表面结构和提高导电性，以促进析氢反应（HER），这是一个重要的问题。在这项工作中，我们认为催化剂表面的工程设计是加速 HER 动力学的一种有效且可行的方法。通过使用氢氟酸（HF）刻蚀 FeRu 合金纳米粒子（NPs）表面的 Fe，形成了 FeRu NPs 的扭曲催化表面。通过 X 射线吸收光谱、高分辨率光电子能谱和电化学吸附/解吸实验成功分析了 HF 处理后的 FeRu NPs 的扭曲表面。HF 处理后的 FeRu NPs 的电催化 HER 活性表明，表面扭曲增强了水分解反应和电子转移速率。因此，与原始的 FeRu 合金 NP/C、商业 Ru/C 和最先进的 Pt/C 催化剂相比，表面扭曲的 FeRu NPs 提高了碱性介质中的 HER 性能。
