Metastable Metal–Alloy Interface in RuNi Nanoplates Boosts Highly Efficient Hydrogen Electrocatalysis
Miaomiao Fang, Yujin Ji, Shize Geng, Jiaqi Su, Youyong Li, Qi Shao, Jianmei Lu
Abstract
Designing a unique metastable interface provides a promising way to achieve high catalytic performance yet remains a great challenge due to the thermodynamics’ unstable nature. In this work, we constructed the stabilized metastable interface between metastable ruthenium–nickel alloy and metastable hexagonal–close-packed nickel via a one-step solvothermal method. The optimized nanocatalyst (denoted as hcp RuNi) shows bifunctional performance toward electrochemical hydrogen oxidation and evolution reactions (HOR/HER). Density functional theory calculations reveal that two different reaction sites at the unique interface contribute to the enhanced HER and HOR performances. This work highlights the important role on interface engineering of metastable materials for highly efficient catalysis.