Highly Durable Ruthenium Silicon Nanoalloy Robust for Electrocatalytic Reduction of Biomass-Derived Aldehydes
Man Zhang, Nadaraj Sathishkumar, Wenhao Luo, Jinlu He, Juan Zhang, Yanheng Hao, Ke Li, Yuchen Wang, Bin Liu, Huixia Luo, Guoqing Guan, Qian He, Kai Yan
Abstract
The electrocatalytic reduction (ECR) of biomass-derived feedstocks to value-added chemicals offers a promising solution for harnessing renewable electricity and biomass-based resources. Herein, we demonstrate the development of high-performing and stable silicon-based nanoalloy catalysts for the ECR of biomass-derived aldehydes. Ruthenium silicon (RuSi) nanoalloy electrocatalysts are prepared via a solvent-free microwave pyrolysis strategy (denoted as M-RuSi) achieve nearly perfect conversion of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) with an unprecedented 2,5-dihydroxymethylfuran selectivity of 99% at −0.6 V RHE over 200 h durability. In situ attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and theoretical calculations reveal that H* active species with high coverage are generated on M-RuSi nanoalloy, and the rate-determining step is HMF adsorption (F-CHO* → F-CH 2 O*) for ECR, which effectively suppresses the competing hydrogen evolution reaction. This M-RuSi nanoalloy can robustly catalyze a series of biomass aldehydes, suggesting promising practical applications.