Facet modulation of nickel-ruthenium nanocrystals for efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution.

Constructing highly active electrocatalysts towards hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in both alkaline and acidic media is essential for achieving a sustainable energy economy. Here, a facile ethylene glycol reduction strategy was employed to design the nickel-ruthenium nanocrystals (Ni-Ru NC) with an exposed highly active Ru (101) facet as an efficient electrocatalyst for HER. Testings show Ni-Ru NC outperforms the benchmark catalyst Pt/C by delivering extraordinarily low overpotentials of 21.

Construction of Bifunctional N-Doped Carbon-Anchored Co Nanoparticles for OER and ORR.

Designing highly active and more durable oxygen electrocatalysts for regenerative metal-air batteries and water splitting is of practical significance. Herein, an advanced Co/N-C-800 catalyst composed of abundant Co-N structures and carbon defects derived from cobalt phthalocyanine is synthesized. Remarkably, this catalyst exhibits favorable catalytic performance toward the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with a receivable overpotential of 274 mV in an alkaline medium achieving a current density of 10 mA cm and a Tafel slope of 43.

Hydrogen-Etched Bifunctional Sulfur-Defect-Rich ReS /CC Electrocatalyst for Highly Efficient HER and OER.

The design on synthesizing a sturdy, low-cost, clean, and sustainable electrocatalyst, as well as achieving high performance with low overpotential and good durability toward water splitting, is fairly vital in environmental and energy-related subject. Herein, for the first time the growth of sulfur (S) defect engineered self-supporting array electrode composed of metallic Re and ReS nanosheets on carbon cloth (referred as Re/ReS /CC) via a facile hydrothermal method and the following thermal treatment with H /N flow is reported. It is expected that, for example, the as-prepared Re/ReS -7H/CC for the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under acidic medium affords a quite low overpotential of 42 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm and a very small Tafel slope of 36 mV decade , which are comparable to some of the promising HER catalysts.