Subnano Ruthenium Species Anchored on Tin Dioxide Surface for Efficient Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Wujie Dong; Yajing Zhang; Jie Xu; Jun-Wen Yin; Shuying Nong; Chenlong Dong; Zichao Liu; Bowei Dong; Li-Min Liu; Rui Si; Mingyang Chen; Jun Luo; Fuqiang Huang

Cell Reports Physical Science (Mar 2020)

Subnano Ruthenium Species Anchored on Tin Dioxide Surface for Efficient Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Wujie Dong,
Yajing Zhang,
Jie Xu,
Jun-Wen Yin,
Shuying Nong,
Chenlong Dong,
Zichao Liu,
Bowei Dong,
Li-Min Liu,
Rui Si,
Mingyang Chen,
Jun Luo,
Fuqiang Huang

Affiliations

Wujie Dong: State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China; State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, P.R. China
Yajing Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China
Jie Xu: Center for Electron Microscopy and Tianjin Key Lab of Advanced Functional Porous Materials, Institute for New Energy Materials & Low-Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, P.R. China
Jun-Wen Yin: Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Beijing 100084, P.R. China
Shuying Nong: State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China
Chenlong Dong: State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China
Zichao Liu: State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China
Bowei Dong: State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China
Li-Min Liu: School of Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, P.R. China
Rui Si: Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201204, P.R. China; Corresponding author
Mingyang Chen: Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Beijing 100084, P.R. China; Corresponding author
Jun Luo: Center for Electron Microscopy and Tianjin Key Lab of Advanced Functional Porous Materials, Institute for New Energy Materials & Low-Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, P.R. China; Corresponding author
Fuqiang Huang: State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China; State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, P.R. China; Corresponding author

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 1, no. 3
p. 100026

Abstract

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Summary: Single-atom catalysts with unique electronic structures are drawing increasing attention as compared with nano-catalysts. However, subnano-catalysts, falling between the two categories, may match the demands of catalytic reactions better due to their tunable electronic structure, but they have rarely been studied. Here, we report a subnano-ruthenium species anchored on nano-SnO2 (Ru@SnO2). Although rutile SnO2 and RuO2 are isostructural and tend to form a spinodal structure in bulk materials, the Ru@SnO2 nano-structure is successfully prepared by our newly developed micro-etching technique. The optimized sample displays high activity for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction with low overpotential and flat Tafel slope, superior to commercial Pt/C (20 wt%), while density functional theory investigations on the hydrogen-binding energy and Gibbs free energy are consistent with these results. The inherent design and synthesis strategies reported herein may open a new avenue for further catalyst development.

Published in Cell Reports Physical Science

ISSN: 2666-3864 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Science: Physics
Website: https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science

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