High temperature liquid shock manufacturing of RuNi catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction

Rational design and production of materials for highly effective and environmental-friendly electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) play a pivotal role in advancing renewable energy utilization. Structural engineering of noble metal nanomaterials can significantly boost catalytic performance through atomic rearrangement, electronic structure modification and surface reactivity modulation. Here, RuNi alloy is synthesized using a novel high temperature liquid shock method (HTLS) with instant Joule heating treatment at 1073 ​K under the mixed atmosphere of Argon (Ar) and CO. The synthesis process involves an aqueous solution containing metal precursors, capping agents, reductant agents and carbon black. Particularly, the as-prepared RuNi-HTS nanostructures with hexagonal close-packed (hcp) phase demonstrate impressive electrocatalytic HER activity in alkaline conditions, requiring only 28 ​mV of overpotentials at a current density of 10 ​mA ​cm⁻². Note that the Tafel slope is 159.2 ​mV dec⁻¹. Furthermore, this versatile HTLS method can be extended to synthesize other catalysts, including Ru-HTS, PtRu, and PtZn, all of which show commendable performance for HER as well. This study lays the groundwork for the strategic design and high-throughput synthesis of novel materials with fine-tuned structure and refined size, enabling highly efficient and environmental-friendly electrocatalysis.