Epitaxially Grown Ru Clusters–Nickel Nitride Heterostructure Advances Water Electrolysis Kinetics in Alkaline and Seawater Media

• Published in: Energy & environmental materials (Hoboken, N.J.) Vol. 6; no. 2; pp. 165 - n/a
• Main Authors: Zhu, Jiawei, Lu, Ruihu, Shi, Wenjie, Gong, Lei, Chen, Ding, Wang, Pengyan, Chen, Lei, Wu, Jinsong, Mu, Shichun, Zhao, Yan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.03.2023; State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing,Wuhan University of Technology,Wuhan 430070,China; Foshan Xianhu Laboratory of the Advanced Energy Science and Technology Guangdong Laboratory,Xianhu Hydrogen Valley,Foshan 528200,China%State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures,International School of Materials Science and Engineering,Wuhan University of Technology,Wuhan 430070,China%State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing,Wuhan University of Technology,Wuhan 430070,China%State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing,Wuhan University of Technology,Wuhan 430070,China; NRC(Nanostructure Research Centre),Wuhan University of Technology,Wuhan 430070,China
• Subjects: Adsorption; alkaline water electrolysis; bifunctional electrocatalyst; Catalytic activity; Charge transfer; Clusters; Electrocatalysts; Electrolysis; Electron states; Epitaxial growth; epitaxial heterostructure; Heterostructures; Kinetics; Nickel; Reaction kinetics; Seawater; seawater electrolysis; solar‐to‐hydrogen integrated system; Substrates; seawater electrolysis; alkaline water electrolysis; epitaxial heterostructure; solar-to-hydrogen integrated system; bifunctional electrocatalyst
• DOI: 10.1002/eem2.12318
• ISSN: 2575-0356; 2575-0348

The epitaxial heterostructure can be rationally designed based on the in situ growth of two compatible phases with lattice similarity, in which the modulated electronic states and tuned adsorption behaviors are conducive to the enhancement of electrocatalytic activity. Herein, theoretical simulations first disclose the charge transfer trend and reinforced inherent electron conduction around the epitaxial heterointerface between Ru clusters and Ni3N substrate (cRu‐Ni3N), thus leading to the optimized adsorption behaviors and reduced activation energy barriers. Subsequently, the defect‐rich nanosheets with the epitaxially grown cRu‐Ni3N heterointerface are successfully constructed. Impressively, by virtue of the superiority of intrinsic activity and reaction kinetics, such unique epitaxial heterostructure exhibits remarkable bifunctional catalytic activity toward electrocatalytic OER (226 mV @ 20 mA cm−2) and HER (32 mV @ 10 mA cm−2) in alkaline media. Furthermore, it also shows great application prospect in alkaline freshwater and seawater splitting, as well as solar‐to‐hydrogen integrated system. This work could provide beneficial enlightenment for the establishment of advanced electrocatalysts with epitaxial heterointerfaces. The epitaxial heterostructures between Ru clusters and Ni3N substrate (cRu‐Ni3N) are theoretically elucidated and elaborately constructed by virtue of the lattice similarity, which display remarkable electrocatalytic activity for both oxygen and hydrogen evolution, and consequent terrific application prospect in alkaline water splitting, seawater electrolysis, and solar‐to‐hydrogen integrated system.