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Research Article

Identification of active sites and synergistic effect in multicomponent carbon-based Ru catalysts during electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Rongpeng Ma1,2, Xian Wang1, Xiaolong Yang1, Yang Li1, Changpeng Liu1,2( ), Junjie Ge1,2,3( ), Wei Xing1,2( )
State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Laboratory of Advanced Power Sources, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China
School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
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Graphical Abstract

The catalyst composed of both Ru nanoclusters and Ru single atom catalysts (SACs) (Ru/N doped porous carbon spheres (NPCS)) can efficiently promote water electrolysis and exhibited a lower voltage and extraordinary stability as a cathode for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE).

Abstract

Single atom catalysts (SACs) were reported to demonstrate exciting catalytic features for a number of reactions, including hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, the true role of these single atom sites in catalysts remains elusive, particularly for those prepared via pyrolysis, where the formation of active nanoparticle counterparts is often unavoidable. Here we report a Ru based catalyst (Ru embedded in N doped carbon spheres (Ru/NPCS)) comprising of both Ru nanoclusters and Ru single sites, who demonstrates activity exceeding Pt catalyst and mass activity among the best of the Ru based catalysts under acidic conditions. The integration of proton exchange membrane water electrolysis with Ru/NPCS as a cathode exhibited an excellent hydrogen generation activity and extraordinary stability (during 120 h of electrolysis) with a 1/48 Ru loading (16.5 µgRu·cm−2) of a commercial 20% Pt/C catalyst. Through precisely tailoring the dispersion status of the catalysts, we reveal that while ruthenium nanoclusters actively catalyze HER via Volmer–Tafel mechanism, the Ru SACs barely catalyze HER, with H* adsorption difficult to occur. Moreover, no synergy between Ru SACs and Ru cluster is revealed, meaning the Ru SACs act as a spectator rather than active species during H2 evolution.

Keywords

hydrogen evolution reactionsingle atom catalystsnanoclustersno synergy

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Nano Research
Volume 16 Issue 1,
January 2023
Pages 166-173
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-022-4643-5
Cite this article:
Ma R, Wang X, Yang X, et al. Identification of active sites and synergistic effect in multicomponent carbon-based Ru catalysts during electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Nano Research, 2023, 16(1): 166-173. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4643-5
Topics:
Hydrogen evolution reaction

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Received: 04 May 2022
Revised: 08 June 2022
Accepted: 08 June 2022
Published: 05 August 2022
© Tsinghua University Press 2022
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