Ruthenium-nickel-cobalt alloy nanoparticles embedded in hollow carbon microtubes as a bifunctional mosaic catalyst for overall water splitting

Yanqin Xue; Qing Yan; Xiaojing Bai; Yanyan Xu; Xuan Zhang; Yiju Li; Kai Zhu; Ke Ye; Jun Yan; Dianxue Cao; Guiling Wang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.01.001

Ruthenium-nickel-cobalt alloy nanoparticles embedded in hollow carbon microtubes as a bifunctional mosaic catalyst for overall water splitting

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 Apr 15:612:710-721. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.01.001. Epub 2022 Jan 6.

Authors

Yanqin Xue¹, Qing Yan², Xiaojing Bai³, Yanyan Xu⁴, Xuan Zhang¹, Yiju Li¹, Kai Zhu¹, Ke Ye¹, Jun Yan¹, Dianxue Cao¹, Guiling Wang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology of Ministry of Education, College of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, PR China.
² Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology of Ministry of Education, College of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, PR China; Ningbo Research Institute, Zhejiang University, Ningbo 315100, PR China; School of Biological and Chemical Engineering, NingboTech University, Ningbo 315100, PR China. Electronic address: qyan@zju.edu.cn.
³ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Anyang Institute of Technology, Anyang, Henan 455000, PR China.
⁴ School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, PR China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology of Ministry of Education, College of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, PR China. Electronic address: wangguiling@hrbeu.edu.cn.

PMID: 35032926
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.01.001

Abstract

The development of efficient bifunctional catalysts for both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is essential for reducing the cost of hydrogen production by water splitting. Herein, hollow microtubes composed of RuNi₁Co₁ alloy nanoparticles uniformly embedded in the carbon matrix (RuNi₁Co₁@CMT) are prepared through a simple impregnation followed by reduction. Benefiting from the unique mosaic structure and the synergistic effect between Ru and NiCo, RuNi₁Co₁@CMT achieves more exposed active sites and improved reaction kinetics. As a consequence, RuNi₁Co₁@CMT exhibits considerable catalytic activities with the overpotentials of 78 mV for HER and 299 mV for OER at 10 mA cm^-2 in 1 M KOH. In addition, RuNi₁Co₁@CMT exhibits excellent stability for up to 30 h in both HER and OER processes at 20 mA cm^-2, which is attributed to the protection of the RuNi₁Co₁ alloy particles by the carbon layer. Furthermore, the assembled RuNi₁Co₁@CMT || RuNi₁Co₁@CMT overall water splitting system shows a cell voltage of 1.58 V at 10 mA cm^-2. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that the addition of Ru can optimize the hydrogen adsorption free energy of Ni and Co sites. Finally, a solar panel-driven water splitting device is built, which can realize green and sustainable hydrogen production. The fabrication of RuNi₁Co₁@CMT provides a new way for the preparation of effective alloy nanomaterials for energy storage and conversion.

Keywords: Alloy; Electrocatalysis; Hydrogen evolution reaction; Oxygen evolution reaction; RuNiCo.