Amorphization activated ruthenium-tellurium nanorods for efficient water splitting

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 5692 - 11
• Main Authors: Wang, Juan, Han, Lili, Huang, Bolong, Shao, Qi, Xin, Huolin L., Huang, Xiaoqing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 12-12-2019; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 119/118; 140/146; 147/143; 639/638/161/886; 639/638/263/915; 639/638/563/606; Amorphization; Catalysis; Design; Energy conversion; Energy storage; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Nanorods; Ruthenium; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Splitting; Tellurium; Water splitting
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13519-1

Pursuing active and durable water splitting electrocatalysts is of vital significance for solving the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) process in energy supply. Herein, theoretical calculations identify that the local distortion-strain effect in amorphous RuTe
2
system abnormally sensitizes the Te-pπ coupling capability and enhances the electron-transfer of Ru-sites, in which the excellent inter-orbital p-d transfers determine strong electronic activities for boosting OER performance. Thus, a robust electrocatalyst based on amorphous RuTe
2
porous nanorods (PNRs) is successfully fabricated. In the acidic water splitting, a-RuTe
2
PNRs exhibit a superior performance, which only require a cell voltage of 1.52 V to reach a current density of 10 mA cm
−2
. Detailed investigations show that the high density of defects combine with oxygen atoms to form RuO
x
H
y
species, which are conducive to the OER. This work offers valuable insights for constructing robust electrocatalysts based on theoretical calculations guided by rational design and amorphous materials.
Elctrochemical water splitting is of vital significance for energy conversion and storage. Here the authors show an electrocatalyst based on amorphous ruthenium-tellurium porous nanorods which exhibit significantly improved OER performance than its crystalline counterparts