Spatially Confined Assembly of Monodisperse Ruthenium Nanoclusters in a Hierarchically Ordered Carbon Electrode for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution

  • Zhong Li Wang
  • , Keju Sun
  • , Joel Henzie*
  • , Xianfeng Hao
  • , Cuiling Li
  • , Toshiaki Takei
  • , Yong Mook Kang
  • , Yusuke Yamauchi
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The redox units of polyaniline (PAni) are used cooperatively, and in situ, to assemble ruthenium (Ru) nanoclusters in a hierarchically ordered carbon electrode. The oxidized quinonoid imine (QI) units in PAni bond Ru complex ions selectively, whereas reduced benzenoid amine (BA) units cannot. By electrochemically tuning the ratio of QI to BA, Ru complexes are spatially confined in the outer layer of hierarchical PAni frameworks. Carbonization of Ru-PAni hybrids induces nucleation on the outer surface of the carbon support, generating nearly monodisperse Ru nanoclusters. The optimized catalyst has a low loading of approximately 2 wt % Ru, but exhibits a mass activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction that is about 6.8 times better than commercial 20 wt % Pt/C catalyst.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5848-5852
Number of pages5
JournalAngewandte Chemie - International Edition
Volume57
Issue number20
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018 May 14
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Keywords

  • electrocatalysis
  • integrated electrodes
  • metal nanoclusters
  • polyaniline
  • ruthenium

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Catalysis
  • General Chemistry

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