Ru nanoparticles decorated Ni-V2NO heterostructures in carbon nanofibers as efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction

Herein, we have successfully synthesized a non-Pt electrocatalyst in form of Ru nanoparticles decorated NiV2NO heterostructures in carbon nanofibers (Ru/Ni-V2NO/NCNFs) through annealing electrospun produced Ru-Ni3V2O8-PAN nanofibers under Ar atmosphere. The integration of Ru nanoparticles and Ni-V2NO heterostructures can regulate the electronic structure of Ru by the interaction among active components and thereby benefit the improvement of HER performance. Meanwhile, enormously boosted ECSA can be detected as the introduction of Ni-V2NO heterostructures, which reveals the favorable exposure of active sites. Thus, compared to the samples solo modified by Ru or Ni-V2NO, the as-fabricated Ru/Ni-V2NO/NCNFs has shown distinctly improved HER performance delivering an overpotential of merely 74.5 mV at 10 mA cm(-2) with Tafel slope of 60.7 mV/dec and long-term stability in alkaline solution. It is believed that our work can provide reasonable inspirations for the design of novel non-Pt heterostructured electrocatalysts used in hydrogen generation via electrochemical water splitting.

Automated summary

In this study, a non-Pt electrocatalyst, Ru/Ni-V2NO/NCNFs, was successfully synthesized. It consists of Ru nanoparticles and Ni-V2NO heterostructures. The integration of Ru nanoparticles and Ni-V2NO heterostructures can regulate the electronic structure of Ru and improve HER performance. Additionally, the introduction of Ni-V2NO heterostructures enhances the exposure of active sites, leading to further improvement in HER performance.