Germanium-regulated adsorption site preference on ruthenium electrocatalyst for efficient hydrogen evolution†

A magnesiothermic reduction route has been presented to synthesize phase-pure germanides that are not readily available traditionally. The obtained ruthenium germanide (RuGe) serves as an efficient non-Pt electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution, and its intrinsic activity is very close to that of Pt. Our combined theoretical and experimental study demonstrates that the remarkable performance is derived from the germanium-induced change in hydrogen site preference from hollow to efficient Ru top sites.

Automated summary

A magnesiothermic reduction route was introduced to synthesize phase-pure germanides that are not easily available traditionally. The obtained ruthenium germanide (RuGe) was found to be an efficient non-Pt electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution, with intrinsic activity close to that of Pt. Both theoretical and experimental studies showed that the excellent performance is attributed to the change in hydrogen site preference induced by germanium, from hollow to efficient Ru top sites.