P and Mo Dual Doped Ru Ultrasmall Nanoclusters Embedded in P-Doped Porous Carbon toward Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

Rational design of efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts for mass production of hydrogen via electrochemical water splitting is a challenging but pressing task. Herein, an in situ dual doping engineering from phosphomolybdic acid encapsulated within the bimetallic metal-organic-frameworks strategy to synthesize P,Mo dual doped Ru ultrasmall nanoparticles embedded in P-doped porous carbon (P,Mo-Ru@PC) for efficient HER is proposed. As a result, P,Mo-Ru@PC achieves a low overpotential of 21 at 10 mA cm(-2), low Tafel slopes of 21.7 mV dec(-1), and a mass activity about 22 times greater than that of commercial 20 wt% Pt/C in alkaline media. First principle calculations demonstrate that introducing Mo and P atoms into Ru lattices triggers the in situ electron donation from Ru to Mo and P and consequently reduces the energy barrier for the HER.