Fabricating Ru single atoms and clusters on CoP for boosted hydrogen evolution reaction

Single atom catalysts (SATs) process the highest utilization efficiency of noble metals. The synergistic effect of noble single atoms and clusters, however, is insufficiently explored. In this work, Ru single atoms and clusters are fabricated on CoP substrate simultaneously, using a facile synchronous phosphorization method, with pre-prepared CoOOH and RuCl3 mixture as the raw materials. It is demonstrated that strong charge transfer is established between Co and Ru elements, which leads to electron-sufficient Ru sites. As a result, the Ru species decorated CoP exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity for HER, with an overpotential of 32 mV to afford a current density of 10 mA/cm2 and a Tafel slope of 37.6 mV/dec, much better than the pure CoP counterpart. This work provides insights into the exploration of synergistic effect of noble metal single atoms and clusters fabricated on transition metal phosphide substrate.