Modulating Electronic Structure of PtCo-Ptrich Nanowires with Ru atoms for Boosted Hydrogen Evolution Catalysis |
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Authors: | Xianjun Cao Li Gao Junpeng Qu Lu Li Yuhan Xie Yufei Zhao Guoxiu Wang Hao Liu |
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Affiliation: | 1. Joint International Laboratory on Environmental and Energy Frontier Materials, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444 P. R. China;2. Centre for Clean Energy Technology, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, Sydney, NSW, 2007 Australia |
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Abstract: | Rational design and development of highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts is of great significance for the development of green water electrolysis hydrogen production technology. Ru-engineered 1D PtCo-Ptrich nanowires (Ru-PtrichCo NWs) are fabricated by a facile electrodeposition method. The rich Pt surface on 1D Pt3Co contributes to the fully exposed active sites and enhanced intrinsic catalytic activity (co-engineered by Ru and Co atoms) for HER. The incorporation of Ru atoms can not only accelerate the water dissociation in alkaline condition to provide sufficient H* but also modulate the electronic structure of Pt to achieve optimized H* adsorption energy. As a result, Ru-PtrichCo NWs have exhibited ultralow HER overpotentials (η) of 8 and 112 mV to achieve current densities of 10 and 100 mA cm−2 in 1 m KOH, respectively, which far exceed those of commercial Pt/C catalyst (η10 = 29 mV, η100 = 206 mV). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations further demonstrate that the incorporated Ru atoms possess strong water adsorption capacity (−0.52 vs −0.12 eV for Pt), facilitating water dissociation. The Pt atoms in the outermost Pt-rich skin of Ru-PtrichCo NWs achieve optimized H* adsorption free energy (ΔGH*) of −0.08 eV, boosting hydrogen generation. |
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Keywords: | 1D nanowires hydrogen evolution reaction Pt-rich skin Ru engineering |
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