Synergetic control of Ru/MXene 3D electrode with superhydrophilicity and superaerophobicity for overall water splitting

Synergetic control of active sites, electrolyte wetting and gas releasing is of vital importance for efficient electrocatalysts in water-splitting. Herein, a Ru/MXene 3D electrode, featuring both superaerophobicity and superhydrophilicity, is first synthesized on porous Ni foam with the aid of Ti3C2Tx nanosheets. The Ru/c-Ti3C2Tx/ NF achieves the current densities of 10, 100, 500, 1000 mA/cm2 at overpotentials of 37, 113, 219 and 320 mV respectively, with the Tafel slope of 60 mV/dec for hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline media. It remains stable at 100 mA/cm2 during continuous electrolysis of 12 h. The Ru/c-Ti3C2Tx/NF demonstrates excellent overall water splitting performance, affording a low voltage of 1.53 V at 10 mA/cm2. In combination with DFT calculation, it illustrates that the enhanced HER performance of Ru/c-Ti3C2Tx/NF attributes to the synergetic modulation of Ru and Ti3C2Tx in the process of H2O dissociation and subsequent H2 formation, as well as superior wettability and rapid gas departure.

Automated summary

The study successfully synthesized Ru/MXene 3D electrode with superior aerophobicity and superhydrophilicity for efficient water-splitting. The electrode demonstrated excellent overall performance in hydrogen evolution reaction, attributed to the synergetic modulation of Ru and Ti3C2Tx along with superior wettability and rapid gas departure.