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Iridium-Cluster-Implanted Ruthenium Phosphide Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

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Abstract

Ruthenium phosphide is a promising catalyst for hydrogen evolution due to its cost-effectiveness compared to platinum. However it faces the challenge of having a high binding energy for hydrogen intermediates. In this study, we demonstrate that the incorporation of iridium in ruthenium phosphides lowers the binding energy of hydrogen intermediates, thereby controlling the overpotential and Tafel slope of hydrogen evolution. When the Ir content was doped at 3 at.%, the catalyst achieved an overpotential of 33 mV and a Tafel slope of 33 mV dec−1 under acidic conditions, which are similar to those of the benchmark Pt/C catalyst. In situ Raman spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that the enhanced catalytic activity originates from the near-neutral Gibbs free energy of hydrogen adsorption on the hollow site of the iridium cluster implanted onto ruthenium phosphide.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by (i) the National R&D Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (2021M3D1A2051636), and (ii) an NRF funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (2023M3H4A1A03061436).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea

    Kyounghoon Jung & Dong-Wan Kim

  2. Department of Chemistry, Kookmin University, Seoul, 02707, Republic of Korea

    Dwi Sakti Aldianto Pratama, Andi Haryanto, ** Il Jang, Hyung Min Kim & Chan Woo Lee

  3. Materials Science and Chemical Engineering Center, Institute for Advanced Engineering, Yongin-si, 17180, Republic of Korea

    Jae-Chan Kim

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  1. Kyounghoon Jung
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Contributions

Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by KJ, DSAP, AH, JIJ, HMK, and J-CK. The original draft of the manuscript was written by KJ. Conceptualization, validation, and editing of draft were performed by CWL and D-WK. All authors have commented on previous versions of the manuscript and have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chan Woo Lee or Dong-Wan Kim.

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Jung, K., Pratama, D.S.A., Haryanto, A. et al. Iridium-Cluster-Implanted Ruthenium Phosphide Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction. Adv. Fiber Mater. 6, 158–169 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-023-00342-z

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