Fabrication of Ru/WO-WN/N-doped carbon sheets for hydrogen evolution reaction.

Recent experimental analysis indicates WO-based nanostructures exhibit poor hydrogen evolution reactivity, particularly in alkaline medium, arising from the low electron transfer rate. It is imperative to tune the composition and structure of WO to boost the cleavage of H-OH bond. Here, we construct Ru/WO-WN/N-doped carbon sheets (Ru/WO-WN/NC) using m-WO nanosheets as precursors with the aid of RuCl, Tris (hydroxymethyl) aminomethane, and dopamine. Structural investigation reveals the formation of N-doped carbon sheets, Ru nanoparticles, and WO-WN. As a result, hydrogen evolution reactivity is greatly improved on Ru/WO-WN/N-doped carbon sheets with 64 mV at 10 mA/cm in 1 mol/L (M) KOH, outperforming most of WO-based electrocatalysts in previous literatures. Meanwhile, it facilitates the generation of H in 0.5 M HSO with the excellent activity of 110 mV at 10 mA/cm. Our work provides an efficient strategy to tailor the electronic structure of WO to catalyze acidic and alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction.