Ruthenium atomically dispersed in carbon outperforms platinum toward hydrogen evolution in alkaline media

Abstract Hydrogen evolution reaction is an important process in electrochemical energy technologies. Herein, ruthenium and nitrogen codoped carbon nanowires are prepared as effective hydrogen evolution catalysts. The catalytic performance is markedly better than that of commercial platinum catalyst, with an overpotential of only −12 mV to reach the current density of 10 mV cm -2 in 1 M KOH and −47 mV in 0.1 M KOH. Comparisons with control experiments suggest that the remarkable activity is mainly ascribed to individual ruthenium atoms embedded within the carbon matrix, with minimal contributions from ruthenium nanoparticles. Consistent results are obtained in first-principles calculations, where RuC x N y…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: CBET-1848841, ACI-1548562, -1548562, 1548562, DMR-1760260, 1760260, DE-AC02-06CH11357, CHE-1710408, 1848841, DE-SC0012704, 1710408
• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Awards: AC02-06CH11357, Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357, No. DE-SC0012704, SC0012704, DE-AC02, ACI-1548562, 06CH11357, No. DE-AC02-06CH11357, DE-AC02-06CH11357, DE-AC02-
• CL
  Canadian Light Source

  Award: DE-AC02-06CH11357
• TU
  Tianjin University of Technology
• TU
  Tianjin University
• OO
  Office of Science

  Awards: DE-AC02-06CH11357, Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357, No. DE-SC0012704, ACI-1548562, DE-AC02, No. DE-AC02-06CH11357, Contract No. DE-SC0012704, 06CH11357, SC0012704, AC02-06CH11357, DE-SC0012704
• DO
  Division of Materials Research

  Awards: DE-AC02-06CH11357, 1760260, ACI-1548562
• DO
  Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems

  Awards: 1848841, CBET-1848841
• DO
  Division of Chemistry

  Awards: 1710408, CHE-1710408, ACI-1548562
• AN
  Argonne National Laboratory

  Awards: DE-AC02, DE-SC0012704, No. DE-AC02-06CH11357, 06CH11357, AC02-06CH11357, Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357
• BN
  Brookhaven National Laboratory

  Awards: SC0012704, No. DE-SC0012704, Contract No. DE-SC0012704, DE-AC02-06CH11357
• LB
  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  Awards: DE-SC0012704, DE-AC02-06CH11357