Journal
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
Volume 11, Issue 51, Pages 47894-47903Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b15844
Keywords
oxygen evolution reaction; hydrogen evolution reaction; electrocatalysis; water splitting; acidic media
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51572227, 21771147]
- Major Cultivating Foundation of Education Department of Sichuan Province [17CZ0036]
- Meritocracy Research Funds of CWNU [17YC007, 17YC017]
- Innovative Research Team of CWNU [CXTD2017-1]
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The great promise of hydrogen energy and hydrogen production from water through proton exchange membrane (PEM) or membrane-free electrolysis drives the pursuit of highly active and acid-stable electrocatalysts with dual functionality and reduced cost for overall water splitting in acidic media. Here, we report a new Ru-modified cobalt-based electrocatalyst embedded in a nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) matrix with rationally designed Mott-Schottky heterostructure to realize high activity and stability toward overall water splitting in a strongly acidic environment. Such a composite was facilely prepared by carbonization of cobalt-based MOF, followed by galvanic exchange between cobalt and Ru, and then controlled partial oxidation. The partial oxidation of 15 RuCo implanted inside the NC matrix led to the formation of a class of RuO2/Co3O4-RuCo@NC composites with rich metal-semiconductor interfaces to facilitate the charge-transfer process. As a result, the composite displayed remarkable electrocatalytic activity toward both oxygen/hydrogen evolutions in acidic media. Significantly, they also afforded low overpotentials of 247 and 141 mV for OER and HER, respectively, and a cell voltage of 1.66 V for overall water splitting at 10 mA cm(-2). In addition, excellent operation stability in 0.5 M H2SO4 solutions, comparable to those of them working in alkaline conditions, is demonstrated due to the protection of a coated carbon thin film. The presented work opens a new opportunity toward designing bifunctional electrocatalysts for acidic water electrolysis.
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