H2 production at positive potentials with a stable and bifunctional Ru0-RuO2Cy electrocatalyst
[EN] Developing highly efficient and earth-abundant catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is essential to produce hydrogen (H2) as a sustainable energy vector, providing an alternative to fossil fuels. Promoting HER in basic media remains challenging due to the lower proton availabilit...
| Autores: | , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2026 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) |
| Repositorio: | RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:dnet:riunet______::0e86cbd4a6f73018167c57bdbc04e327 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/233426 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) Ruthenium-based catalysts Electrocatalysis Ruthenium |
| Sumario: | [EN] Developing highly efficient and earth-abundant catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is essential to produce hydrogen (H2) as a sustainable energy vector, providing an alternative to fossil fuels. Promoting HER in basic media remains challenging due to the lower proton availability compared to acidic conditions. Herein, we report the synthesis of partially carbon-coated, ruthenium-based materials with carefully controlled synthesis parameters that modulate the concentrations of metallic Ru0 and ruthenium oxycarbonate (RuO2Cy). These materials exhibit impressive electrocatalytic performance in HER, with overpotentials required to reach a current density of 10 mA cm- 2 (versus RHE) as low as 37 mV in acidic and 7 mV in basic media. The high efficiency observed in basic media was further characterized using differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) and in situ Raman spectroscopy, revealing H2 production at positive potentials. This phenomenon may result from local pH changes facilitated by efficient water deprotonation on ruthenium species with intermediate oxidation states. In addition to high activity, the most efficient material demonstrated excellent stability, with no significant deactivation during chronopotentiometry experiments at 10 mA cm- 2 for 40 h. This work underscores the importance of precise material design in developing effective electrocatalysts for HER. |
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