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Controlled synthesis of ultrasmall RuP2 particles on N,P-codoped carbon as superior pH-wide electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution

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Abstract

Electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a highly potential strategy to massively produce green hydrogen fuels. However, the employment of costly Pt-based electrocatalyst in the cathode of electrolyzer greatly hampers the development of hydrogen economy. Ruthenium phosphide catalysts have recently drawn wide attention due to the Pt-like activity but relatively lower cost. Herein, a facile strategy was proposed for the controlled preparation of the ultrasmall RuP2 nanoparticles on N,P-codoped carbon from common precursors of Ru (II) complex and phytic acid. By taking advantage of simple mixing and pyrolysis, the as-synthesized RuP2 nanoparticles were uniformly embedded onto the N,P-codoped carbon nanosheet. The composite catalyst shows better activity than Pt/C for alkaline HER and comparable activity for acidic and neutral HER. The superior activity can be ascribed to the ultrasmall-size and efficient RuP2 together with good mass and charge transfer ability assured by N,P-codoped carbon support. The advantages including low-cost and simple synthesis in this work present an encouraging substitute to replace commercial Pt/C for hydrogen-related practical applications.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21601078), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Nos. ZR2016BQ21 and ZR2019MB064), Development Project of Youth Innovation Team in Shandong Colleges and Universities (No. 2019KJC031), Doctoral Fund of Shandong Province (No. K19LB1201) and Doctoral Program of Liaocheng University (No. 318051608).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory/Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Energy Storage and Novel Cell Technology, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, 252059, China

    Ying-Hua Wang, Rui-Qing Li, Hai-Bo Li, Hong-Li Huang, Zeng-Jing Guo, Hong-Yan Chen & Kong-Gang Qu

  2. School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia

    Yao Zheng

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  1. Ying-Hua Wang
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  2. Rui-Qing Li
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Correspondence to Yao Zheng or Kong-Gang Qu.

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Wang, YH., Li, RQ., Li, HB. et al. Controlled synthesis of ultrasmall RuP2 particles on N,P-codoped carbon as superior pH-wide electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution. Rare Met. 40, 1040–1047 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-020-01665-1

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