Harnessing the Interface Effect of Ru/CeO2 Heterostructures for Enhanced Hydrogen Electrocatalysis in Freshwater and Seawater Electrolysis
Fangbing Qi, Xiaoyan Qin, Jianquan Wang, Xiaodong Yang, Yiqiang Sun, Cuncheng LiAbstract
Direct seawater electrolysis confronts pivotal challenges in both catalytic efficiency and process engineering domains. Herein, a metal hybridization strategy is proposed for crafting an HER catalyst featuring Ru nanoparticles anchored on the surface of CeO2 and integrated with conductive carbon (Ru/CeO2/C). Ru/CeO2/C heterostructure catalyst exhibits remarkable electrocatalytic prowess towards HER, manifesting overpotentials of merely 30 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in 1 M KOH, surpassing the performance of commercial Pt/C. Notably, the overpotentials escalate to 41 and 338 mV respectively, in environments of 1 M KOH supplemented with 0.5 M NaCl and 3.5% NaCl. Meanwhile, Ru/CeO2/C || RuO2 exhibits 1.68 V at 10 mA cm−2 in alkaline seawater for overall water splitting. Experimental data underscores the Ru‐CeO2 interface's pivotal role in modulating charge, intensifying electronic coupling, and refining adsorption/desorption energies. High surface area carbon integration amplifies activity, stability, and kinetics via robust interfacial dynamics, yielding the Ru/CeO2/C heterostructure catalyst's remarkable hydrogen production efficiency in alkaline and seawater media. This work may provide new options for the design and preparation of potential HER directly used seawater electrocatalysts.