The hybrid Pt nanoclusters/Ru nanowires catalysts accelerating alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction
Jingjing Yan, Rundong Wu, Guoqiang Jin, Litao Jia, Gang Feng, Xili Tong
Abstract
Water electrolysis via alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a promising approach for large-scale production of high-purity hydrogen at a low cost, utilizing renewable and clean energy. However, the sluggish kinetics derived from the high energy barrier of water dissociation impedes seriously its practical application. Herein, a series of hybrid Pt nanoclusters/Ru nanowires (Pt/Ru NWs) catalysts are demonstrated to accelerate alkaline HER. And the optimized Pt/Ru NWs (10 % wt Pt) exhibits exceptional performance with an ultralow overpotential (24 mV at 10 mA cm−2), a small Tafel slope (26.3 mV dec−1), and long-term stability, outperforming the benchmark commercial Pt/C-JM-20 % wt catalyst. This amazing performance also occurred in the alkaline anion-exchange membrane water electrolysis devices, where it delivered a cell voltage of about 1.9 V at 1 A cm−2 and an outstanding stability (more than 100 h). The calculations have revealed such a superior performance exhibited by Pt/Ru NWs stems from the formed heterointerfaces, which significantly reduce the energy barrier of the decisive rate step of water dissociation via cooperative-action between Pt cluster and Ru substance. This work provides valuable perspectives for designing advanced materials toward alkaline HER and beyond.