Robust and stable ruthenium alloy electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution by seawater splitting

• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2016.04.184
• Publication Date: 2016-05-07T23:27:04Z
• Authors: Xiaoman Niu; Qunwei Tang; Benlin He; Peizhi Yang
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; 0104 chemical sciences

Abstract Seawater splitting by complicated electrocatalytic processes is promising for hydrogen evolution. Here we present a series of robust electrodes by electrodepositing RuCo and RuCoMox alloys on Ti foil substrates for hydrogen evolution from seawater splitting. The preliminary results demonstrate that Ti foil supported RuCo and RuCoMox alloy electrodes require overpotentials of ∼387 and ∼550 mV to drive the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at a benchmark current density of 10 mA cm−2, respectively. Moreover, the resultant Ti foil supported RuCoMox electrode shows excellent stability under persistent operation at a constant current density of −1.2 V over 12 h.