How the Arrangement of Platinum Atoms on Ruthenium Nanoparticles Improves Hydrogen Evolution Activity
Abstract
AbstractThe platinum‐ruthenium (PtRu) system is highly active for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline media with both Pt and Ru playing active roles in the water dissociation step that generates adsorbed hydrogen atoms. Precise control of the arrangement of Pt atoms on Ru nanoparticles can maximize the Pt‐Ru sites for water dissociation and Pt‐Pt sites for hydrogen production and can considerably improve HER catalytic performance. By directing the growth and distribution of Pt on Ru hourglass nanoparticles, the arrangement of Pt on Ru is controlled into forming Pt islands, small Pt clusters, and strings of a few Pt atoms. Calculations show that the unique atomic string arrangements of Pt on Ru is the thermodynamically favorable configuration. Additionally, these strings have a favorable combination of Pt‐Ru and Pt‐Pt sites, making the Pt‐string on Ru the most active catalyst with a more than fivefold increase in turnover frequency for alkaline HER compared to the Pt‐island on Ru catalyst. The results show how controlling the Pt atomic arrangement on Ru nanoparticle surfaces for the tuning of Pt‐Pt and Pt‐Ru neighboring sites can direct toward a more efficient HER mechanism and thereby significantly enhancing HER performance.
Article Details
Authors (16)
Qinyu Li
Soshan Cheong
Electron Microscope Unit, Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre
Agus R. Poerwoprajitno
Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies
Shuting Xiang
Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering
Anatoly I. Frenkel
Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering
Yuwei Yang
School of Chemical Engineering
Nicholas M. Bedford
School of Chemical Engineering
Sohaib Umer
School of Chemistry University of New South Wales Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
Martina Lessio
School of Chemistry University of New South Wales Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
Ichiro Ohnishi
JEOL Ltd. 3‐1‐2 Musashino, Akishima Tokyo 196‐8558 Japan
Zeno R. Ramadhan
Electron Microscope Unit, Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre
Dale L. Huber
Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque NM 87185 USA
Liming Dai
ARC Centre of Excellence for Carbon Science and Innovation
Wolfgang Schuhmann
Analytical Chemistry – Center For Electrochemical Sciences (CES); Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150 Bochum Germany
J. Justin Gooding
School of Chemistry
Richard D. Tilley
School of Chemistry