Steering the Electronic Microenvironment of Ruthenium Sites via Boron Buffering Enables Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution under a Universal pH Range

Feng, Yongqiang; Zhu, Wenjie; Xu, Jilong; Zhang, Dantong; Ma, Qunzhi; Zhao, Lu; Lin, Liping; Su, Qiwen; Wang, Ying; Liu, Qingqing; Wei, Ying; Xu, Li; Huang, Jianfeng; Ye, Yifan; Zhao, Jingxiang; Wu, Bin

doi:10.1021/acsnano.4c14866

articleACS NanoFeb 22, 2025Closed access

Steering the Electronic Microenvironment of Ruthenium Sites via Boron Buffering Enables Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution under a Universal pH Range

YFYongqiang Feng WZWenjie Zhu JXJilong Xu DZDantong Zhang QMQunzhi Ma

Shaanxi University of Science and Technology · University of Science and Technology of China · +8 more institutions

PubMed

Indexed incrossrefpubmed

Abstract

Optimizing the microenvironment of active sites is crucial for enhancing the catalytic activity of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) across various pH conditions. Here, guided by theoretical predictions of boron (B)-doping’s electronic buffering effect on ruthenium (Ru) at the atomic scale, a highly efficient and universal-pH Ru-based HER electrocatalyst (Ru-NBC) by introducing B and nitrogen (N) into a carbon (C) matrix was designed. The Ru-NBC catalyst demonstrated exceptional HER activity, requiring overpotentials of 27, 40, and 68 mV in 1 M KOH, 0.5 M H2SO4, and 1 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS), respectively, to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm–2. In situ Raman spectroscopy, ambient-pressure…

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43

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FWCI: 12.02
Percentile: 100%
References: 70

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Topics & keywords

Topics

Keywords

Ruthenium
Boron
Chemical physics
Materials science
Range (aeronautics)
Nanotechnology
Hydrogen
Chemistry

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