Gold-Ruthenium Alloy Nanofibers As a Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Overall Water Splitting in Acidic Environments

摘要

Hydrogen is widely regarded as an environmentally-friendly and practical alternative energy to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Also, hydrogen has the outstanding advantages of high energy storage density and sustainable reaction products. The most promising technology to produce hydrogen from abundant renewable sources is water electrolysis. Electrochemical water splitting involves two reaction systems, namely, an anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and a cathodic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In general, typical HER catalysts with good activity in acidic solutions, such as Pt, exhibit poor activity in OER. Therefore, it is important to study bifunctional catalyst with high activity, efficiency and stability in acidic solutions.