Enhanced hydrogen evolution in neutral media via proximity effect of Ru/RuO2-TiO2 nanocatalysts

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2024.06.013

Abstract

Abstract: Ru-based nanomaterials have been demonstrated to be highly active electrocatalysts for hydrogen evo-lution reaction (HER), yet weak water adsorption and splitting ability in neutral media thus it is rather difficult for the intermediates to adsorb on the active site. Herein, we introduce a concept of the prox-imity effect, com prising adjacent Ru and RuO₂ nanoparticles coupled on TiO₂ (Ru/RuO₂-TiO₂), for the synergic promotion of water molecule adsorption and splitting, significantly enhancing HER electrocatal-ysis performance. The in-situ spectroscopy experiments and density function theory (DFT) simulations demonstrated that the proximity effect between the adjacent Ru nanoparticles and RuO2 nanoparticles can accelerate water adsorption and splitting. As a result, the as-made Ru/RuO₂-TiO₂ only need overpo-tentials of 52.7, 16.0, and 16.4 mV to achieve the current density of 10 mA cm^-2 in neutral, acid, and alkaline media, respectively. The mass activity of Ru/RuO₂-TiO₂ in neutral media is 320 and 117 times higher than that of commercial Ru/C and Pt/C at the overpotential of 100 mV, respectively. This work emphasizes the proximity effect for activation of reactants which can be extended to other electrocat-alytic reactions.

Key words: Hydrogen evolution reaction, Water activation, Proximity effect, Ruthenium

Yifan Yang, Lixiong Xu, Chenyue Li, Rongqian Ning, Jun Ma, Mengqin Yao, Shuo Geng, Fei Liu. Enhanced hydrogen evolution in neutral media via proximity effect of Ru/RuO₂-TiO₂ nanocatalysts[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2025, 212: 173-181.

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Enhanced hydrogen evolution in neutral media via proximity effect of Ru/RuO₂-TiO₂ nanocatalysts

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