Rational design of MOFs-derived Co-Ru species embedded N-doped carbon/carbon matrix for highly-efficient and multifunctional electrocatalysis

Abstract

Developing efficient and durable multifunctional electrocatalysts for HER, OER and ORR is a pressing challenge for the practical application of water splitting and regenerative Zn-air batteries. Herein, core–shell Co-Ru nanocomposites embedded in N-doped carbon matrix (CoRu@NC) is fabricated for highly active HER by using hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) based MOFs as precursor, which is further developed into bimetallic oxide encapsulated into carbon (CoRuOx@C) as multifunctional catalysts for OER and ORR. Taking advantage of synergistic effects between two species and the porous core–shell structure, the resulting water electrolyzer (CoRu@NC||CoRuOx@C) displays excellent performance in pH-universal electrolyte, surpassing Pt/C||RuO2 counterpart and most reported electrocatalysts. More attractively, the CoRuOx@C exhibites significantly high-activity for ORR in 0.1 M KOH, possessing a half-wave potential of 0.864 V (23 mV higher than that of Pt/C benchmark) with excellent durability. This work provides a feasible strategy to construct multifunctional catalysts for efficient water splitting and Zn-air batteries.