Issue 34, 2022
From the journal:

Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Revealing and magnifying interfacial effects between ruthenium and carbon supports for efficient hydrogen evolution†

Yongjun Jiang,a   Ting-Wei Huang,b   Hsuan-Lien Chou, ORCID logo b   Lihui Zhou,a   Sheng-Wei Lee,b   Kuan-Wen Wang ORCID logo *bc  and  Sheng Dai ORCID logo *a  

* Corresponding authors

a Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Joint International Research Laboratory of Precision Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Centre, Frontiers Science Center for Materiobiology and Dynamic Chemistry, Institute of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
E-mail: shengdai@ecust.edu.cn

b Institute of Materials Science and Engineering, National Central University, Taoyuan 320, Taiwan
E-mail: kuanwen.wang@gmail.com

c Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

Abstract

Ru has been considered as a highly efficient material for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and becomes one of the promising alternatives to Pt owing to its relatively low price and similar hydrogen bonding strength. Carbon host materials, e.g., amorphous carbon (AC), porous carbon (PC), and ZIF-derived carbon (ZC), are widely used in Ru/C catalysts. Here, we investigate the influences of the above three different carbon host materials over the supported Ru species in Ru/C catalysts. A stronger metal–support interaction is revealed in the Ru/ZC catalyst, in which the supported Ru species are preserved in a metallic state and a highly dispersed form, resulting in enhanced HER activity and stability in alkaline media. Both the Ru sites and Ru–C interfacial sites are determined to be active for the HER in Ru/ZC according to our electrochemical poisoning experiment. In addition, an acid etching treatment (AET) strategy is proposed to magnify the interfacial effect of Ru/C catalysts for further HER improvement, and the optimal Ru/ZC-E50 catalyst that undergoes appropriate etching treatment shows a smaller Ru size and more exposed Ru–C interface, realizing an overpotential of only 29 mV (at 10 mA cm−2) and a Tafel slope of 82 mV dec−1 that greatly outperform those of Ru-based and Pt-based materials for the HER in alkaline media. These specific findings can provide deeper insights into the design strategy, structure–property relationship, and future development of Ru/C catalysts for efficient HER.

Graphical abstract: Revealing and magnifying interfacial effects between ruthenium and carbon supports for efficient hydrogen evolution

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/D2TA04268A
Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 May 2022
Accepted
02 Aug 2022
First published
02 Aug 2022

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022,10, 17730-17739

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Revealing and magnifying interfacial effects between ruthenium and carbon supports for efficient hydrogen evolution

Y. Jiang, T. Huang, H. Chou, L. Zhou, S. Lee, K. Wang and S. Dai, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022, 10, 17730 DOI: 10.1039/D2TA04268A

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