Ru-Cu Nanoheterostructures for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Alkaline Water Electrolyzers.

ABSTRACT: Combining multiple species working in tandem for different hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) steps is an effective strategy to design HER electrocatalysts. Here, we engineered a hierarchical electrode for the HER composed of amorphous-TiO₂/Cu nanorods (NRs) decorated with cost-effective Ru-Cu nanoheterostructures (Ru mass loading = 52 μg/cm²). Such an electrode exhibits a stable, over 250 h, low overpotential of 74 mV at -200 mA/cm² for the HER in 1 M NaOH. The high activity of the electrode is attributed, by structural analysis, operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and first-principles simulations, to synergistic functionalities: (1) mechanically robust, vertically aligned Cu NRs with high electrical conductivity and porosity provide fast charge and gas

SUBMITTER: Zuo Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10557145 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature