Carbon Nanotube Support, Carbon Loricae and Oxygen Defect Co‐Promoted Superior Activities and Excellent Durability of RuO2 Nanoparticles Towards the pH‐Universal H2 Evolution

Abstract

AbstractThis work reports a strategy that integrates the carbon nanotube (CNT) supporting, ultrathin carbon coating and oxygen defect generation to fabricate the RuO2 based catalysts toward the pH‐universal hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with high efficiencies. Specifically, the CNT supported RuO2 nanoparticles with ultrathin carbon loricae and rich oxygen vacancies at the surface (C@OV‐RuO2/CNTs‐325) have been synthesized. The C@OV‐RuO2/CNTs‐325 shows superior activities and excellent durability for the HER. It only requires overpotentials of 36.1, 18.0, and 19.3 mV to deliver −10 mA cm−2 in the acidic, neutral, and alkaline media, respectively. Its HER activities are comparable to that of the Pt/C in the acidic media but higher than those of the Pt/C in the neutral and alkaline media. The C@OV‐RuO2/CNTs‐325 shows excellent HER durability with no activity losses for > 500 h in the acidic, neutral or alkaline media at −250 mA cm−2. The density‐functional‐theory calculations indicate that the CNT supporting, the carbon coating, and the OVs can modulate the d‐band centers of Ru, increasing the HER activities of C@OV‐RuO2/CNTs‐325, and stabilize the Ru atoms in the catalyst, increasing the durability of the C@OV‐RuO2/CNTs‐325. More interestingly, the C@OV‐RuO2/CNTs‐325 shows great potential for practical applications toward overall seawater splitting.