Nitrogen Atoms as Stabilizers and Promoters for Ru‐Cluster‐Catalyzed Alkaline Water Splitting

Abstract

AbstractHere, we report an efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst, in which ruthenium clusters with a diameter of ∼1 nm are anchored on nitrogen doped carbon (Ru/N‐BP2000). Significantly low overpotentials are required for Ru/N‐BP2000 to catalyze HER (15 mV vs. RHE) and OER (285 mV vs. RHE) in 1 M KOH with current density of 10 mA cm−2, which outperforms Ru/BP2000 (HER: 54.2 mV vs. RHE; OER: 337 mV vs. RHE) as well as the benchmark Pt/C (52 mV vs. RHE) and IrO2 (301 mV vs. RHE). Moreover, ignorable losses in electrocatalytic activities toward HER and OER are recorded for Ru/N‐BP2000 electrocatalyst ascribed to the electronically delocalized Ru atoms induced by the nitrogen atoms. Only 1.53 V is needed for Ru/N‐BP2000 electrocatalyst to drive overall water splitting with stable current density of 10 mA cm−2 for 50 h, which is comparably lower than Pt/C−IrO2 demanding 1.59 V to attain 10 mA cm−2. This work demonstrates the importance of nitrogen doping for promoting the Ru based electrocatalyst's activity and stability in water splitting application.