Issue 48, 2023

Ru nanoclusters anchored on boron- and nitrogen-doped carbon for a highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline seawater

Abstract

Electrochemical seawater splitting is an intriguing strategy for green hydrogen production. Constructing advanced electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in seawater is extremely demanded for accelerating the sluggish kinetic process. Herein, a Ru nanocluster anchored on boron- and nitrogen-doped carbon (Ru/NBC) catalyst was successfully synthesized for the HER in alkaline/seawater electrolytes. Remarkably, Ru/NBC exhibits outstanding activity and durability, delivering low overpotentials@10 mA cm−2 in 1.0 M KOH (30 mV) and 1.0 M KOH + seawater electrolyte (35 mV), outperforming Pt/C, Ru/NC, Ru/BC and Ru/C. Additionally, Ru/NBC also provides a high specific activity of 0.093 mA cm−2ECSA at an overpotential of 150 mV, which is higher than those of Ru/NC, Ru/BC and Ru/C, respectively. Density functional theory calculation results demonstrate that the Ru–B formed interfacial chemical bond can regulate the electronic structure of Ru active sites of Ru/NBC, which can facilitate the adsorption of water and hydrogen in alkaline media. This work provides a feasible strategy to fabricate outstanding electrocatalysts for the HER in alkaline/alkaline seawater electrolytes.

Graphical abstract: Ru nanoclusters anchored on boron- and nitrogen-doped carbon for a highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline seawater

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 Oct 2023
Accepted
14 Nov 2023
First published
15 Nov 2023

Nanoscale, 2023,15, 19703-19708

Ru nanoclusters anchored on boron- and nitrogen-doped carbon for a highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline seawater

B. Jiang, Z. Wang, H. Zhao, X. Wang, X. Mao, A. Huang, X. Zhou, K. Yin, K. Sheng and J. Wang, Nanoscale, 2023, 15, 19703 DOI: 10.1039/D3NR05052A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements