Issue 8, 2021

Ultrafine CoRu alloy nanoparticles in situ embedded in Co4N porous nanosheets as high-efficient hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts

Abstract

The development of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts with outstanding efficiency and favorable stability at all pH values is of great significance but still a dominating challenge toward the development of electrochemical water-splitting technology. Herein, CoRu alloy nanoparticles assembled in Co4N porous nanosheets (named as CoRu@Co4N) have been successfully achieved from Ru(OH)3@Co(OH)2 through a one-step nitridation process. Benefiting from the unique structure, inherent alloy properties and strong alloy-support interaction derived from the in situ transformation, the resultant hybrids exhibit superior HER activities over a wide pH range, achieving very low overpotentials of 13 mV, 44 mV and 15 mV at 10 mA cm−2 under alkaline, neutral and acidic conditions, respectively. Such activities surpass most reported electrocatalysts and are comparable or even transcendent to commercial Ru/C and Pt/C. Furthermore, CoRu@Co4N also exhibits outstanding stability during the accelerated degradation test (ADT) and chronopotentiometry. Our work provides a new approach for designing pH-universal Ru-involved HER electrocatalysts with remarkable efficiency and prominent durability.

Graphical abstract: Ultrafine CoRu alloy nanoparticles in situ embedded in Co4N porous nanosheets as high-efficient hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Dec 2020
Accepted
29 Jan 2021
First published
29 Jan 2021

Dalton Trans., 2021,50, 2973-2980

Ultrafine CoRu alloy nanoparticles in situ embedded in Co4N porous nanosheets as high-efficient hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts

M. Zhang, J. Wang, Y. Zhang, L. Ye and Y. Gong, Dalton Trans., 2021, 50, 2973 DOI: 10.1039/D0DT04248J

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