Unlocking Interfacial Electron Transfer of Ruthenium Phosphides by Homologous Core–Shell Design toward Efficient Hydrogen Evolution and Oxidation. Issue 37 (10th August 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Du, Hongfang; Du, Zhuzhu; Wang, Tingfeng; Li, Boxin; He, Song; Wang, Ke; Xie, Linghai; Ai, Wei; Huang, Wei
• Is Part Of: Advanced materials. Volume 34:Issue 37(2022)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2022-08-10
• Subjects: core–shell structures -- hydrogen evolution reaction -- hydrogen oxidation reaction -- phase transformation -- ruthenium phosphide; Materials -- Periodicals; Chemical vapor deposition -- Periodicals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202204624
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0935-9648

Abstract

Abstract: Developing high‐efficiency electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution and oxidation reactions (HER/HOR) in alkaline electrolytes is of critical importance for realizing renewable hydrogen technologies. Ruthenium phosphides (RuP x ) are promising candidates to substitute Pt‐based electrodes; however, great challenges still remain in their electronic structure regulation for optimizing intermediate adsorption. Herein, it is reported that a homologous RuP@RuP2 core–shell architecture constructed by a phosphatization‐controlled phase‐transformation strategy enables strong electron coupling for optimal intermediate adsorption by virtue of the emergent interfacial functionality. Density functional theory calculations show that the RuP core and RuP2 shell present efficient electron transfer, leading to a close to thermoneutral hydrogen adsorption Gibbs free energy of 0.04 eV. Impressively, the resulting material exhibits superior HER/HOR activities in alkaline media, which outperform the benchmark Pt/C and are among the best reported bifunctional hydrogen electrocatalysts. The present work not only provides an efficient and cost‐effective bifunctional hydrogen electrocatalyst, but also offers a new synthetic protocol to rationally synthesize homologous core–shell nanostructures for widespread applications. Abstract : A system where homologous core–shell RuP@RuP2 nanoparticles are well dispersed on functional carbon nanosheets (RuP@RuP2 /C) is synthesized via a phosphatization‐controlled phase‐transformation strategy. The emergent interfacial functionality enables very efficient electron transfer from the RuP core to the RuP2 shell, leading to accelerated hydrogen adsorption/desorption kinetics of RuP@RuP2 /C toward high‐efficiency alkaline hydrogen evolution and oxidation, which are among the best reported bifunctional hydrogen electrocatalysts.