Highly Active and Stable Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Electrocatalyst Based on Ir-Incorporated Partially Oxidized Ru Aerogel under Industrial-Level Current Density

The realization of large-scale industrial application of alkaline water electrolysis for hydrogen generation is severely hampered by the cost of electricity. Therefore, it is currently necessary to synthesize highly efficient electrocatalysts with excellent stability and low overpotential under an industrial-level current density. Herein, Ir-incorporated in partially oxidized Ru aerogel has been designed and synthesized via a simple in situ reduction strategy and subsequent oxidation process. The electrochemical measurements demonstrate that the optimized Ru98Ir2-350 electrocatalyst exhibits outstanding hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance in an alkaline environment (1 M KOH). Especially, at the large current density of 1000 mA cm-2, the overpotential is as low as 121 mV, far exceeding the benchmark Pt/C catalyst. Moreover, the Ru98Ir2-350 catalyst also displays excellent stability over 1500 h at 1000 mA cm-2, denoting its industrial applicability. This work provides an efficient route for developing highly active and ultra-stable electrocatalysts for hydrogen generation under industrial-level current density. A facile strategy based on an in situ reduction and subsequent controllable oxidation process has been demonstrated to prepare Ir-incorporated in partially oxidized Ru aerogel (Ru98Ir2-350) with a 3D porous structure, which exhibits a remarkable HER performance in an alkaline solution. The as-prepared Ru98Ir2-350 catalyst shows highly active and ultra-stable catalytic properties under industrial-level current density, significantly superior to the commercial Pt/C and many previously reported catalysts.image