Boosting oxygen evolution of single-atomic ruthenium through electronic coupling with cobalt-iron layered double hydroxides.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30979899.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-09666-0 and PMC identifier 6461613.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Single atom catalyst, which contains isolated metal atoms singly dispersed on supports, has great potential for achieving high activity and selectivity in hetero-catalysis and electrocatalysis. However, the activity and stability of single atoms and their interaction with support still remains a mystery. Here we show a stable single atomic ruthenium catalyst anchoring on the surface of cobalt iron layered double hydroxides, which possesses a strong electronic coupling between ruthenium and layered double hydroxides. With 0.45 wt.% ruthenium loading, the catalyst exhibits outstanding activity with overpotential 198 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm<sup>-2</sup> and a small Tafel slope of 39 mV dec<sup>-1</sup> for oxygen evolution reaction. By using operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy, it is disclosed that the isolated single atom ruthenium was kept under the oxidation states of 4+ even at high overpotential due to synergetic electron coupling, which endow exceptional electrocatalytic activity and stability simultaneously.