Interface modifications for RuO2-decorated MoS2 nanosheets as excellent electrocatalysts for alkaline hydrogen evolution reactions
writer：Zuo, CJ (Zuo, Changjiang) [1] ; Bao, JH (Bao, Jiehua) [2] ; Zhao, XW (Zhao, Xiwang) [1] ; Mao, CF (M
keywords：TOTAL-ENERGY CALCULATIONSFINDING SADDLE-POINTSEFFICIENTRUO2
source：期刊
Issue time：2023年
The development of earth-rich, low-cost, and high-efficiency electrocatalysts toward alkaline hydrogen evolution reactions (HERs) in the water spitting process is extremely desirable yet a huge challenge. In this work, we report the synthesis of novel RuO2/MoS2 electrocatalysts with good conductivity and abundant active sites for efficient HER by uniformly dispersing RuO2 nanoparticles on MoS2 nanosheets. Benefitting from the intense electronic coupling effect endowed with interface modifications, the as-prepared RuO2/MoS2 electrocatalysts exhibited superior performance for HER in 1 M KOH with a very low overpotential of 36 mV at 10 mA cm(-2) and a small Tafel slope value of 34.8 mV dec(-1). Moreover, the introduction of RuO2 nanoparticles improved the durability of the RuO2/MoS2 electrocatalysts with negligible variation in a 20 h operation. More importantly, the density functional theory (DFT) calculations further revealed the mechanism of strong electronic interaction between RuO2 nanoparticles and MoS2 nanosheets, which contributes to accelerating the H2O dissociation kinetics and optimizing H adsorption Gibbs free energy. This work may provide a deeper understanding for designing efficient HER catalysts through interface modification strategies.