Delicate surface vacancies engineering of Ru doped MOF-derived Ni-NiO@C hollow microsphere superstructure to achieve outstanding hydrogen oxidation performance

摘要

Surface vacancy defects,as the bridge between theoretical structural study and the design of heterogenous catalysts,have captured much attention.This work develops a metal-organic framework-engaged replacement-pyrolysis approach to obtain highly dispersed Ru nanoparticles immobilized on the vacancy-rich Ni-NiO@C hollow microsphere(Ru/Ni-NiO@C).Fine annealing at 400°C introduces nickel and oxygen vacancies on Ru/Ni-NiO@C surface,resulting in an improved electrical conductivity and rapid mass-charge transfer efficiency.Ru/Ni-NiO@C with a hollow micro/nanostructure and interconnected meso-porosity favors the maximal exposure of abundant active sites and elevation of hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR)activity.Experimental results and density functional theory(DFT)calculations reveal that an electronic effect between Ru and Ni-NiO@C,in conjunction with nickel/oxygen vacancies in the NiO species could synergistically optimize hydrogen binding energy(HBE)and hydroxide binding energy(OHBE).The HBE and OHBE optimizations thus created confer Ru/Ni-NiO@C with a mass activity over 7.75 times higher than commercial Pt/C.Our work may provide a constructive route to make a breakthrough in elevating the hydrogen electrocatalytic performance.