Reversible hydrogen spillover in Ru-WO3-x enhances hydrogen evolution activity in neutral pH water splitting

Abstract Noble metal electrocatalysts (e.g., Pt, Ru, etc.) suffer from sluggish kinetics of water dissociation for the electrochemical reduction of water to molecular hydrogen in alkaline and neutral pH environments. Herein, we found that an integration of Ru nanoparticles (NPs) on oxygen-deficient WO 3-x manifested a 24.0-fold increase in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity compared with commercial Ru/C electrocatalyst in neutral electrolyte. Oxygen-deficient WO 3-x is shown to possess large capacity for storing protons, which could be transferred to the Ru NPs under cathodic potential. This significantly increases the hydrogen coverage on the surface of Ru NPs in HER and thus changes the…

• AF
  Agency for Science, Technology and Research

  Awards: A20E5c0080, AME IRG: A20E5c0080
• MO
  Ministry of Education - Singapore
• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 21872121, 21908189, 2021YFB3801600, 21872121, 21908189
• BG
  Bộ Giáo dục và Ðào tạo
• FR
  Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities

  Award: 2017XZZX002-16