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Nitrogen Atoms as Stabilizers and Promoters for Ru‐Cluster‐Catalyzed Alkaline Water Splitting
Author(s) -
Hu Hao,
Kazim Farhad M. D.,
Zhang Quan,
Qu Konggang,
Yang Zehui,
Cai Weiwei
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chemcatchem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1867-3899
pISSN - 1867-3880
DOI - 10.1002/cctc.201900987
Subject(s) - electrocatalyst , water splitting , ruthenium , oxygen evolution , catalysis , chemistry , reversible hydrogen electrode , nitrogen , inorganic chemistry , electrochemistry , electrode , working electrode , biochemistry , organic chemistry , photocatalysis
Here, we report an efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst, in which ruthenium clusters with a diameter of ∼1 nm are anchored on nitrogen doped carbon (Ru/N‐BP2000). Significantly low overpotentials are required for Ru/N‐BP2000 to catalyze HER (15 mV vs. RHE) and OER (285 mV vs. RHE) in 1 M KOH with current density of 10 mA cm −2 , which outperforms Ru/BP2000 (HER: 54.2 mV vs. RHE; OER: 337 mV vs. RHE) as well as the benchmark Pt/C (52 mV vs. RHE) and IrO 2 (301 mV vs. RHE). Moreover, ignorable losses in electrocatalytic activities toward HER and OER are recorded for Ru/N‐BP2000 electrocatalyst ascribed to the electronically delocalized Ru atoms induced by the nitrogen atoms. Only 1.53 V is needed for Ru/N‐BP2000 electrocatalyst to drive overall water splitting with stable current density of 10 mA cm −2 for 50 h, which is comparably lower than Pt/C−IrO 2 demanding 1.59 V to attain 10 mA cm −2 . This work demonstrates the importance of nitrogen doping for promoting the Ru based electrocatalyst's activity and stability in water splitting application.