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Ruthenium Triazine Composite: A Good Match for Increasing Hydrogen Evolution Activity through Contact Electrification
Author(s) -
Ju Qiangjian,
Ma Ruguang,
Pei Yu,
Guo Beibei,
Li Zichuang,
Liu Qian,
Thomas Tiju,
Yang Minghui,
Hutchings Graham J.,
Wang Jiacheng
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced energy materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.08
H-Index - 220
eISSN - 1614-6840
pISSN - 1614-6832
DOI - 10.1002/aenm.202000067
Subject(s) - overpotential , ruthenium , catalysis , water splitting , electrocatalyst , materials science , dissociation (chemistry) , hydrogen , composite number , inorganic chemistry , chemical engineering , electrochemistry , chemistry , electrode , organic chemistry , composite material , photocatalysis , engineering
The development of Pt‐free catalysts for the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), which is widely used in industrial scale water‐alkali electrolyzers, remains a contemporary and pressing challenge. Ruthenium (Ru) has excellent water‐dissociation abilities and could be an alternative water splitting catalyst. However, its large hydrogen binding energy limits HER activity. Here, a new approach is proposed to boost the HER activity of Ru through uniform loading of Ru nanoparticles on triazine‐ring (C 3 N 3 )‐doped carbon (triNC). The composite (Ru/triNC) exhibits outstanding HER activity with an ultralow overpotential of ≈2 mV at 10 mA cm −2 ; thereby making it the best performing electrocatalyst hitherto reported for alkaline HER. The calculated metal mass activity of Ru/triNC is >10 and 15 times higher than that of Pt/C and Pt/triNC. Both theoretical and experimental studies reveal that the triazine‐ring is a good match for Ru to weaken the hydrogen binding on Ru through interfacial charge transfer via increased contact electrification. Therefore, Ru/triNC can provide the optimal hydrogen adsorption free energy (approaching zero), while maintaining the strong water‐dissociation activity. This study provides a new avenue for designing highly efficient and stable electrocatalysts for water splitting.