One-pot synthesis of ruthenium nanoparticles embedded nitrogen-doped carbon framework for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction

Hydrogen is one of the most desirable alternatives to fossil fuel due to its cleanliness, renewability and large energy density. Efficient and durable electrocatalyst toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is an urgent need for the sustainable development and long-term environmental conservation. The noble metal(Pt/Ru/Ir) has a favorable performance for HER but the high price and the low reserve hinder its further application. Meanwhile, the non-noble metal electrocatalysts can hardly achieve a satisfactory stability and efficiency. Therefore, this paper reports a Ru embedded N-doped carbon framework material as low-noble metal catalyst which has low loading of Ru (0.39 wt%) and exhibits the desirable overpotential of 181 mV at 10 mA cm(-2) in alkaline and 298 mV at 10 mA cm(-2) in acidic solution. Besides, it retains 94. 1% current density after durability potentiostatic tests for 30,000 s while the commercial 20 wt% Pt/C can only retain 84. 2%, which suggests a superior stability.