Revealing interfacial charge redistribution of homologous Ru-RuS_(2) heterostructure toward robust hydrogen oxidation reaction

Precisely tailoring the surface electronic structures of electrocatalysts for optimal hydrogen binding energy and hydroxide binding energy is vital to improve the sluggish kinetics of hydrogen oxidation reac-tion(HOR).Herein,we employ a partial desulfurization strategy to construct a homologous Ru-RuS_(2) heterostructure anchored on hollow mesoporous carbon nanospheres(Ru-RuS_(2)@C).The disparate work functions of the heterostructure contribute to the spontaneous formation of a unique built-in electric field,accelerating charge transfer and boosting conductivity of electrocatalyst.Consequently,Ru-RuS_(2)@C exhibits robust HOR electrocatalytic activity,achieving an exchange current density and mass activity as high as 3.56 mA cm^(-2) and 2.13 mAμg_(Ru)^(-1),respectively.exceeding those of state-of-the-art Pt/C and most contemporary Ru-based HOR electrocatalysts.Surprisingly,Ru-RuS_(2)@C can tolerate 1000 ppm of cO that lacks in Pt/C.Comprehensive analysis reveals that the directional electron transfer across Ru-RuS_(2) heterointerface induces local charge redistribution in interfacial region,which optimizes and balances the adsorption energies of H and OH species,as well as lowers the energy barrier for water formation,thereby promoting theHoR performance.

Metastable face-centered cubic ruthenium-based binary alloy for efficient alkaline hydrogen oxidation electrocatalysis

Metastable nanostructured electrocatalyst with a completely different surface environment compared to conventional phase-based electrocatalyst often shows distinctive catalytic property.Although Ru-based electrocatalysts have been widely investigated toward hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR)under alkaline electrolytes,these studies are mostly limited to conventional hexagonal-close-packed(hcp)phase,mainly arising from the lack of sufficient synthesis strategies.In this study,we report the precise synthesis of metastable binary RuW alloy with face-centered-cubic(fcc)phase.We find that the introduction of W can serve as fcc phase seeds and reduce the formation energy of metastable fcc-RuW alloy.Impressively,fcc-RuW exhibits remarkable alkaline HOR performance and stability with the activity of 0.67 mA cm_(Ru)^(-2)which is almost five and three times higher than that of hcp-Ru and commercial Pt/C,respectively,which is attributed to the optimized binding strength of adsorbed hydroxide intermediate derived from tailored electronic structure through W doping and phase engineering.Moreover,this strategy can also be applied to synthesize other metastable fcc-RuCr and fcc-RuMo alloys with enhanced HOR performances.

RuO_(2)-PdO nanowire networks with rich interfaces and defects supported on carbon toward the efficient alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction

Interfacial engineering is a promising approach for enhancing electrochemical performance,but rich and efficient interfacial active sites remain a challenge in fabrication.Herein,RuO_(2)-PdO heterostructure nanowire networks(NWs) with rich interfaces and defects supported on carbon(RuO_(2)-PdO NWs/C) for alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR) was formed by a seed induction-oriented attachment-thermal treatment method for the first time.As expected,the RuO_(2)-PdO NWs/C(72.8% Ru atomic content in metal) exhibits an excellent activity in alkaline HOR with a mass specific exchange current density(jo,m) of 1061 A gRuPd-1,which is 3.1 times of commercial Pt/C and better than most of the reported nonPt noble metal HOR electrocatalysts.Even at the high potential(~0.5 V vs.RHE) or the presence of CO(5 vol%),the RuO_(2)-PdO NWs/C still effectively catalyzes the alkaline HOR.Structure/electrochemical analysis and theoretical calculations reveal that the interfaces between RuO_(2) and PdO act as the active sites.The electronic interactions between the two species and the rich defects for the interfacial active sites weaken the adsorption of Had,also strengthen the adsorption of OHad,and accelerate the alkaline HOR process.Moreover,OHadon RuO_(2) can spillover to the interfaces,keeping the RuO_(2)-PdO NWs/C with the stable current density at higher potential and high resistance to CO poisoning.

High activity of a Pt decorated Ni/C nanocatalyst for hydrogen oxidation

The Pt decorated Ni/C nanocatalysts were prepared for hydrogen oxidation reaction（HOR） in fuel cell.By regulating the contents of Pt and Ni in the catalyst,both the composition and the structure affected the electrochemical catalytic characteristics of the Pt-Ni/C catalysts.When the Pt mass content was 3.1% percent and that of Ni was 13.9% percent,the Pt-Ni/C-3 catalyst exhibited a larger electrochemically active surface area and a higher exchange current density toward HOR than those of pure supported platinum sample.Our study demonstrates a feasible approach for designing the more efficient catalysts with lower content of noble metal for HOR in fuel cell.

Carbon dots regulate the interface electron transfer and catalytic kinetics of Pt-based alloys catalyst for highly efficient hydrogen oxidation

The regulation of interface electron-transfer and catalytic kinetics is very important to design the efficient electrocatalyst for alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR).Here,we show the Pt-Ni alloy nanoparticles(PtNi_(2))have an enhanced HOR activity compared with single component Pt catalyst.While,the interface electron-transfer kinetics of PtNi_(2)catalyst exhibits a very wide electron-transfer speed distribution.When combined with carbon dots(CDs),the interface charge transfer of PtNi_(2)-CDs composite is optimized,and then the PtNi_(2)-5 mg CDs exhibits about 2.67 times and 4.04 times higher mass and specific activity in 0.1 M KOH than that of 20%commercial Pt/C.In this system,CDs also contribute to trapping H^(+)and H_(2)O generated during HOR,tuning hydrogen binding energy(HBE),and regulating interface electron transfer.This work provides a deep understanding of the interface catalytic kinetics of Pt-based alloys towards highly efficient HOR catalysts design.

Recent advances in alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction

The development of highly efficient electrocatalysts toward hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR)under alkaline media is essential for the commercialization of alkaline exchange membrane fuel cells(AEMFCs).However,the HOR kinetics in alkaline is two to three orders of magnitude slower than that in acid.More critically,fundamental understanding of the sluggish kinetics derived from the p H effect is still debatable.In this review,the recent development of understanding HOR mechanism and rational design of advanced HOR electrocatalysts are summarized.First,recent advances in the theories focusing on fundamental understandings of HOR under alkaline electrolyte are comprehensively discussed.Then,from the aspect of intermediates binding energy,optimizing hydrogen binding energy(HBE)and increasing hydroxyl binding energy(OHBE),the strategies for designing efficient alkaline HOR catalysts are summarized.At last,perspectives for the future research on alkaline HOR are pointed out.

Improved hydrogen oxidation reaction under alkaline conditions by Au–Pt alloy nanoparticles

This work demonstrates the outstanding performance of alloyed Au1 Pt1 nanoparticles on hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR)in alkaline solution.Due to the weakened hydrogen binding energy caused by uniform incorporation of Au,the alloyed Au1Pt1/C nanoparticles exhibit superior HOR activity than commercial PtRu/C.On the contrary,the catalytic performance of the phase-segregated Au2Pt1/C and Au1Pt1/C bimetallic nanoparticles in HOR is significantly worse.Moreover,Au1Pt1/C shows a remarkable durability with activity dropping only 4% after 3000 CV cycles,while performance attenuation of commercial PtRu/C is high up to 15% under the same condition.Our results indicate that the alloyed Au1Pt1/C is a promising candidate to substitute commercial PtRu/C for hydrogen oxidation reaction in alkaline electrolyte.

Sustainable solid-state synthesis of uniformly distributed PdAg alloy nanoparticles for electrocatalytic hydrogen oxidation and evolution

New sustainable syntheses based on solid-state strategies have sparked enormous attention and provided novel routes for the synthesis of supported metallic alloy nanocatalysts(SMACs).Despite considerable recent progress in this field,most of the developed methods suffer from either complex operations or poorly controlled morphology,which seriously limits their practical applications.Here,we have developed a sustainable strategy for the synthesis of PdAg alloy nanoparticles(NPs)with an ultrafine size and good dispersion on various carbon matrices by directly grinding the precursors in an agate mortar at room temperature.Interestingly,no solvents or organic reagents are used in the synthesis procedure.This simple and green synthesis procedure provides alloy NPs with clean surfaces and thus an abundance of accessible active sites.Based on the combination of this property and the synergistic and alloy effects between Pd and Ag atoms,which endow the NPs with high intrinsic activity,the PdAg/C samples exhibit excellent activities as electrocatalysts for both the hydrogen oxidation and evolution reactions(HOR and HER)in a basic medium.Pd9Ag1/C showed the highest activity in the HOR with the largest j0,m value of 26.5 A g Pd^–1 and j0,s value of 0.033 mA cmPd^–2,as well as in the HER,with the lowest overpotential of 68 mV at 10 mA cm^–2.As this synthetic method can be easily adapted to other systems,the present scalable solid-state strategy may open opportunity for the general synthesis of a wide range of well-defined SMACs for diverse applications.

Electrocatalysts development for hydrogen oxidation reaction in alkaline media:From mechanism understanding to materials design

Anion exchange membrane(AEM)fuel cells have gained great attention partially due to the advantage of using non-precious metal as catalysts.However,the reaction kinetics of hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR)is two orders of magnitude slower in alkaline systems than in acid.To understand the slower kinetics of HOR in base,two major theories have been proposed,such as(1)pH dependent hydrogen binding energy as a major descriptor for HOR;and(2)bifunctional theory based on the contributions of both hydrogen and hydroxide adsorption for HOR in alkaline electrolyte.Here,we discuss the possible HOR mechanisms in alkaline electrolytes with the corresponding change in their Tafel behavior.Apart from the traditional Tafel-Volmer and Heyrovsky-Volmer HOR mechanisms,the recently proposed hydroxide adsorption step is also discussed to illustrate the difference in HOR mechanisms in acid and base.We further summarize the representative works of alkaline HOR catalyst design(e.g.,precious metals,alloy,intermetallic materials,Ni-based alloys,carbides,nitrides,etc.),and briefly describe their fundamental HOR reaction mechanism to emphasize the difference in elementary reaction steps in alkaline medium.The strategy of strengthening local interaction that facilitates both H2 desorption and Hads+OHads recombination is finally proposed for future HOR catalyst design in alkaline environment.

Catalytic activity of V_(2)CO_(2) MXene supported transition metal single atoms for oxygen reduction and hydrogen oxidation reactions:A density functional theory calculation study

Two-dimensional(2D)MXene and single-atom(SA)catalysts are two frontier research fields in catalysis.2D materials with unique geometric and electronic structures can modulate the catalytic performance of supported SAs,which,in turn,affect the intrinsic activity of 2D materials.Density functional theory calculations were used to systematically explore the potential of O-terminated V2C MXene(V_(2)CO_(2))-supported transition metal(TM)SAs,including a series of 3d,4d,and 5d metals,as oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)and hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR)catalysts.The combination of TM SAs and V_(2)CO_(2)changes their electronic structure and enriches the active sites,and consequently regulates the intermediate adsorption energy and catalytic activity for ORR and HOR.Among the investigated TM-V_(2)CO_(2)models,Sc-,Mn-,Rh-,and PtMCCh showed high ORR activity,while Sc-,Ti-,V-,Cr-,and Mn-V_(2)CO_(2)exhibited high HOR activity.Specifically,Mn-and Sc-V_(2)CO_(2)are expected to serve as highly efficient and cost-effective bifunctional catalysts for fuel cells because of their high catalytic activity and stability.This work provides theoretical guidance for the rational design of efficient ORR and HOR bifunctional catalysts.

Delicate surface vacancies engineering of Ru doped MOF-derived Ni-NiO@C hollow microsphere superstructure to achieve outstanding hydrogen oxidation performance

Surface vacancy defects,as the bridge between theoretical structural study and the design of heterogenous catalysts,have captured much attention.This work develops a metal-organic framework-engaged replacement-pyrolysis approach to obtain highly dispersed Ru nanoparticles immobilized on the vacancy-rich Ni-NiO@C hollow microsphere(Ru/Ni-NiO@C).Fine annealing at 400°C introduces nickel and oxygen vacancies on Ru/Ni-NiO@C surface,resulting in an improved electrical conductivity and rapid mass-charge transfer efficiency.Ru/Ni-NiO@C with a hollow micro/nanostructure and interconnected meso-porosity favors the maximal exposure of abundant active sites and elevation of hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR)activity.Experimental results and density functional theory(DFT)calculations reveal that an electronic effect between Ru and Ni-NiO@C,in conjunction with nickel/oxygen vacancies in the NiO species could synergistically optimize hydrogen binding energy(HBE)and hydroxide binding energy(OHBE).The HBE and OHBE optimizations thus created confer Ru/Ni-NiO@C with a mass activity over 7.75 times higher than commercial Pt/C.Our work may provide a constructive route to make a breakthrough in elevating the hydrogen electrocatalytic performance.

Manipulating the electronic structure of Ni electrocatalyst through d‐p orbital hybridization induced by B‐doping for efficient alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction

Developing highly efficient platinum‐group‐metal‐free electrocatalysts towards hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR)under alkaline electrolyte is critical for the development of alkaline exchange member fuel cells.Herein,we reported the synthesis of boron doped Ni electrocatalyst(B‐Ni/C)and its remarkable alkaline HOR performance,with a 10‐fold mass activity enhancement compared with that of undoped Ni catalyst.Experimental results and density functional theory calculations indicate the d‐p hybridization between the p orbital of B and the d orbital of Ni via B‐doping could lead to promoted OH adsorption and optimized hydrogen binding energy on Ni surface,which together with the reduced formation energy of water species,contributes to the enhanced HOR performance under alkaline electrolyte.

Progress and prospect of Pt-based catalysts for electrocatalytic hydrogen oxidation reactions

To achieve the goals of the peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutral,the development and utilization of sustainable clean energy are extremely important.Hydrogen fuel cells are an important system for converting hydrogen energy into electrical energy.However,the slow hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR)kinetics under alkaline conditions has limited its development.Therefore,elucidating the catalytic mechanism of HOR in acidic and alkaline media is of great significance for the construction of highly active and stable catalysts.In terms of practicality,Pt is still the primary choice for commercialization of fuel cells.On the above basis,we first introduced the hydrogen binding energy theory and bifunctional theory used to describe the HOR activity,as well as the pH dependence.After that,the rational design strategies of Pt-based HOR catalysts were systematically classified and summarized from the perspective of activity descriptors.In addition,we further emphasized the importance of theoretical simulations and in situ characterization in revealing the HOR mechanism,which is crucial for the rational design of catalysts.Moreover,the practical application of Pt-based HOR catalysts in fuel cells was also presented.In closing,the current challenges and future development directions of HOR catalysts were discussed.This review will provide a deep understanding for exploring the mechanism of highly efficient HOR catalysts and the development of fuel cells.

Electron-distribution control via Pt/NC and MoC/NC dual junction:Boosted hydrogen electro-oxidation and theoretical study

The scarcity,high cost and susceptibility to CO of Platinum severely restrict its application in alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR).Hybridizing Pt with other transition metals provides an effective strategy to modulate its catalytic HOR performance,but at the cost of mass activity due to the coverage of modifiers on Pt surface.Herein,we constructed dual junctions'Pt/nitrogen-doped carbon(Pt/NC)andδ-MoC/NC to modify electronic structure of Pt via interfacial electron transfer to acquire Pt-MoC@NC catalyst with electron-deficient Pt nanoparticles,simultaneously endowing it with high mass activity and durability of alkaline HOR.Moreover,the unique structure of Pt-MoC@NC endows Pt with a high COtolerance at 1,000 ppm CO/H_(2),a quality that commercial Pt-C catalyst lacks.The theoretical calculations not only confirm the diffusion of electrons from Pt/NC to Mo C/NC could occur,but also demonstrate the negative shift of Pt d-band center for the optimized binding energies of*H,*OH and CO.

Enhancing hydrogen evolution and oxidation kinetics through oxygen insertion into nickel lattice

Nickel-based materials,including metallic Ni and Ni oxide,have been widely studied in the exploration of non-precious-metal hydrogen electrocatalysts,but neither pure Ni nor NiO is ideal for the hydrogen evolution reaction(HER)and hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR).In this paper,an oxygen insertion strategy was applied on nickel to regulate its hydrogen electrocatalytic performance,and the oxygen-inserted nickel catalyst was successfully obtained with the assistance of tungsten dioxide support(denoted as O-Ni/WO_(2)).The partial insertion of oxygen in Ni maintains the face-centered cubic arrangement of Ni atoms,simultaneously expanding the lattice and increasing the lattice spacing.Consequently,the adsorption strength of^(*)H and^(*)OH on Ni is optimized,thus resulting in superior electrocatalytic performance of0-Ni/WO_(2)in alkaline HER/HOR.The Tafel slope of O-Ni/WO_(2)@NF for HER is 56 mV dec^(-1),and the kinetic current density of O-Ni/WO_(2)for HOR reaches 4.85 mA cm^(-2),which is ahead of most currently reported catalysts.Our proposed strategy of inserting an appropriate amount of anions into the metal lattice could provide more possibilities for the design of high-performance catalysts.

Pt single atoms coupled with Ru nanoclusters enable robust hydrogen oxidation for high-performance anion exchange membrane fuel cells

The sluggish reaction kinetics of alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR)is one of the key challenges for anion exchange membrane fuel cells(AEMFCs).To achieve robust alkaline HOR with minimized cost,we developed a single atom-cluster multiscale structure with isolated Pt single atoms anchored on Ru nanoclusters supported on nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets(Pt1-Ru/NC).The well-defined structure not only provides multiple sites with varied affinity with the intermediates but also enables simultaneous modulation of different sites via interfacial interaction.In addition to weakening Ru–H bond strength,the isolated Pt sites are heavily involved in hydrogen adsorption and synergistically accelerate the Volmer step with the help of Ru sites.Furthermore,this catalyst configuration inhibits the excessive occupancy of oxygen-containing species on Ru sites and facilitates the HOR at elevated potentials.The Pt1-Ru/NC catalyst exhibits superior alkaline HOR performance with extremely high activity and excellent CO-tolerance.An AEMFC with a 0.1 mg·cmPGM^(−2)loading of Pt1-Ru/NC anode catalyst achieves a peak powder density of 1172 mW·cm^(−2),which is 2.17 and 1.55 times higher than that of Pt/C and PtRu/C,respectively.This work provides a new catalyst concept to address the sluggish kinetics of electrocatalytic reactions containing multiple intermediates and elemental steps.

Controllable selective anchoring of subnanometric Ru clusters or single-atoms/clusters on tungsten nitride for the hydrogen oxidation

The impregnation method in the preparation of metal cluster catalysts typically inadvertently introduces single atoms(SAs) into the substrate. However, the question of whether the introduction of SAs will further improve the catalytic activity of cluster systems for specific reactions such as the hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR) remains unraveled. Herein, we demonstrate Ru clusters anchored on WN nanowires(RuC/WN) show a higher alkaline HOR catalytic activity in comparison with Ru SAs and nanoclusters(NCs)-coupled catalyst anchored on WN nanowires system(RuC,S/WN). Notably, the RuC/WN exhibits superb intrinsic catalytic activity with a mass-normalized exchange current density of 890 m A mg^(-1)PGM, which is among the top level of well developed Ru-based HOR catalysts. Both theoretical simulation and experimental investigation suggest that RuC/WN owns an optimized H^(*)and OH^(*) reaction intermediates for the alkaline HOR, therefore resulting in the excellent intrinsic HOR catalytic performance.

Towards reliable assessment of hydrogen oxidation electrocatalysts for anion-exchange membrane fuel cells

Recent advancement of proton exchange membrane fuel cells has led to commercial sales of fuel-cell cars but market barrier exists because this technology heavily relies on platinum catalyst.Given the permission of adopting platinum-group-metal-free catalysts,anion-exchange membrane fuel cell has received notable attention.However,the sluggish kinetics of anodic hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR)largely limit the cell efficiency.Although many high-performance HOR catalysts have been reported,there are analytical uncertainties in the literature concerning the assessment of the catalyst activity.Here we determine the origin of false HOR currents in the recorded polarization curves and propose a rigorous approach to eliminate them.We unveil experimentally the uncertainties of obtaining exchange current densities(j0)using Tafel plot from Bulter–Volmer equation and recommend employing the micro-polarization region method.For bulky catalysts that cannot establish a well-defined diffusion layer,we suggest applying external stirring bar to offer certain level of enforced convection and using j0 to compare the activity.

pH-Dependent binding energy-induced inflection-point behaviors for pH-universal hydrogen oxidation reaction

The kinetics of hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR)declines with orders of magnitude when the electrolyte varies from acid to base.Therefore,unveiling the mechanism of pH-dependent HOR and narrowing the acid-base kinetic gap are indispensable and challenging.Here,the HOR behaviors of palladium phosphides and their counterpart(PdP_2/C,Pd_5P_2/C,Pd_3P/C,and Pd/C)in the whole pH region(from pH 1 to 13)are explored.Unexpectedly,there are non-monotonous relationships between their HOR kinetics and varied pHs,showing distinct inflection-point behaviors(inflection points and acid-base kinetic gaps).We find the inflection-point behaviors can be explained by the discrepant role of pH-dependent hydroxyl binding energy(OHBE)and hydrogen binding energy(HBE)induced HOR kinetics under the entire pH range.We further reveal that the strengthened OHBE is responsible for the earlier appearance of the inflection point and much narrower acid-base kinetic gap.These findings are conducive to understanding the mechanism of the pH-targeted HOR process,and provide a new strategy for rational designing advanced HOR electrocatalysts under alkaline electrolyte.

Surface Engineered Ru_(2)Ni Multilayer Nanosheets for Hydrogen Oxidation Catalysis

The hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR)in alkaline conditions is of great importance for the application of anion exchange membrane fuel cells(AEMFCs).However,the electrocatalysts for alkaline HOR generally suffer from the disadvantage of sluggish kinetics.Herein,we have fabricated Ru2Ni multilayered nanosheets(Ru2Ni MLNSs)in the layer-by-layer manner and engineered the surface properties via postannealing for efficient alkaline HOR.Detailed investigations reveal that such annealing at different temperatures can alter the surface properties of Ru2Ni MLNSs and thus regulate their adsorption abilities toward*H and*OH.In particular,the optimal catalyst exhibits a mass activity of 4.34 A mgRu−1 at an overpotential of 50 mV,which is 18.1 and 13.2 times higher than those of Ru/C(0.24 A mgRu−1)and Pt/C(0.33 A mgPt−1),respectively.Theoretical calculations indicate that the presence of surface O atoms can facilitate the HOR activity while the excessive coverage of O atoms on Ru2Ni surface leads to the strengthened H binding and the decay of HOR activity.This work not only provides an efficient catalyst for alkaline HOR,but it also may shed new light on the design of high-performance catalysts for electrocatalysis and beyond.We have fabricated Ru2Ni multilayer nanosheets(Ru2Ni MLNSs)and realized the surface engineering via an annealing process.Detailed investigations show that such surface engineering can regulate the surface properties and thus promote the alkaline HOR activity.Consequently,the optimal catalyst exhibits a much higher activity than those of commercial Ru/C and Pt/C and is a promising catalyst for alkaline HOR.