Interfacial water engineering boosts neutral water reduction

Kaian Sun, Xueyan Wu (), Zewen Zhuang, Leyu Liu, Jinjie Fang, Lingyou Zeng, Junguo Ma, Shoujie Liu, Jiazhan Li, Ruoyun Dai, Xin Tan, Ke Yu, Di Liu, Weng-Chon Cheong, Aijian Huang, Yunqi Liu, Yuan Pan, Hai Xiao and Chen Chen ()
Additional contact information
Kaian Sun: Tsinghua University
Xueyan Wu: Xinjiang University
Zewen Zhuang: Tsinghua University
Leyu Liu: Tsinghua University
Jinjie Fang: Beijing University of Chemical Technology
Lingyou Zeng: China University of Petroleum (East China)
Junguo Ma: Tsinghua University
Shoujie Liu: Tsinghua University
Jiazhan Li: Tsinghua University
Ruoyun Dai: Tsinghua University
Xin Tan: Tsinghua University
Ke Yu: Tsinghua University
Di Liu: Tsinghua University
Weng-Chon Cheong: Tsinghua University
Aijian Huang: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Yunqi Liu: China University of Petroleum (East China)
Yuan Pan: China University of Petroleum (East China)
Hai Xiao: Tsinghua University
Chen Chen: Tsinghua University

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in neutral media is of great practical importance for sustainable hydrogen production, but generally suffers from low activities, the cause of which has been a puzzle yet to be solved. Herein, by investigating the synergy between Ru single atoms (RuNC) and RuSex cluster compounds (RuSex) for HER using ab initio molecular dynamics, operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and operando surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy, we establish that the interfacial water governs neutral HER. The rigid interfacial water layer in neutral media would inhibit the transport of H2O*/OH* at the electrode/electrolyte interface of RuNC, but the RuSex can promote H2O*/OH* transport to increase the number of available H2O* on RuNC by disordering the interfacial water network. With the synergy of RuSex and RuNC, the resulting neutral HER performance in terms of mass-specific activity is 6.7 times higher than that of 20 wt.% Pt/C at overpotential of 100 mV.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33984-5

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