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Promoted Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Performance of Ru/C by Introducing TiO 2 Nanoparticles
Author(s) -
Wang Yajing,
Zhu Quanxi,
Xie Taiping,
Peng Yuan,
Liu Songli,
Wang Jiankang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemelectrochem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.182
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 2196-0216
DOI - 10.1002/celc.201902170
Subject(s) - dissociation (chemistry) , tafel equation , electrochemistry , chemistry , electrocatalyst , gibbs free energy , hydrogen , hydrogen production , desorption , water splitting , inorganic chemistry , nanoparticle , adsorption , chemical engineering , catalysis , nanotechnology , materials science , electrode , thermodynamics , photocatalysis , organic chemistry , engineering , physics
Higher water dissociation (Volmer step) energy barrier leads to the sluggish alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) rate. Since hydrophilic TiO 2 can reduce water dissociation barrier while the widely studied Ru has nearly zero hydrogen adsorption Gibbs free energy, the combination of TiO 2 and Ru/C might collectively enhance Volmer and Heyrovsky/Tafel step and finally promote HER performance. Herein, Ru/C−TiO 2 with average size of 3.6 nm for Ru was synthesized by a two‐step process. It presented superior alkaline HER activity with η 10 of 44 mV, better than that of Ru/C (107 mV), Pt/C (84 mV) and C−TiO 2 with negligible activity. The prominent HER performance was due to synergistic effect between TiO 2 and Ru, which greatly expedited water dissociation for intermediate hydrogen production and the following electrochemical hydrogen desorption for producing H 2 . This work combines specific active sites for different elementary steps and then boosts alkaline HER performance, which provide a guide for designing efficient and stable HER electrocatalyst.