Abstract
The rational design and construction of inexpensive and highly active electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is of great importance for water splitting. Herein, we develop a facile approach for preparation of porous carbon-confined Ru-doped Cu nanoparticles (denoted as Ru-Cu@C) by direct pyrolysis of the Ru-exchanged Cu-BTC metal–organic framework. When served as the electrocatalyst for HER, strikingly, the obtained Ru-Cu@C catalyst exhibits an ultralow overpotential (only 20 mV at 10 mA cm−2) with a small Tafel slope of 37 mV dec−1 in alkaline electrolyte. The excellent performance is comparable or even superior to that of commercial Pt/C catalyst. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirm that introducing Ru atoms into Cu nanocrystals can significantly alter the desorption of H2 to achieve a close-to-zero hydrogen adsorption energy and thereby boost the HER process. This strategy gives a fresh impetus to explore low-cost and high-performance catalysts for HER in alkaline media.
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