High-temperature shock enabled synthesis of ultrafine Ru nanoparticles anchoring onto tungsten carbide with strong metal-support interaction for ampere-level current density hydrogen evolution

Developing cost effective, active and durable alternatives to platinum electrocatalysts is the major challenge for sustainable hydrogen production. Rational design and controlled synthesis of hybrid structures with strong metal-support interaction may offer a feasible strategy to achieve efficient and stable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, a low cost and high-performance ultrafine Ru nanoparticles anchored tungsten carbide (Ru/WC) HER electrocatalyst is successfully prepared by high-temperature shock (HTS) technology, which can be accomplished in less than 0.5 s. In a strong alkaline medium, the as-prepared Ru/WC exhibits a low overpotential of 4 mV and 72 mV at the current densities of 10 mA cm−2 and 100 mA cm−2, respectively. Low Tafel slope of 44 mV dec−1, high turnover frequency (TOF) of 2.55 s−1 at an overpotential of 100 mV, long-term electrochemical stability up to 150 h, and ampere-level current density can be achieved. Furthermore, Ru/WC also shows exceptional activity and stability under acidic conditions. Notably, Ru/WC can accommodate HER current density as high as 2000 mA cm−2 at a small overpotential of 365 mV, which holds great promises for industrial large-scale production. This work provides a simple, rapid, and solvent-free strategy for synthesizing high efficiency HER electrocatalyst with ampere-level current density.