Crystalline-amorphous Ru@RuP core-shell nanoparticles anchored on carbon nanotube for enhanced hydrogen evolution electrocatalysis

Ruthenium phosphides are promising candidates to substitute platinum (Pt) for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) but further boosting their activity is a tremendous challenge. Herein, crystalline/amorphous Ru@RuP core-shell nanoparticle supported on carbon nanotube (Ru@RuP-CNT) was synthesized by controllable surface phosphatization procedure. The resulted Ru@RuP-CNT outperforms its Ru-based rivals and Pt/C catalyst in HER, exhibiting a tiny overpotential of 28 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and marvelous mass activity of 3.24 A mg−1 at 50 mV overpotential in alkaline solution. Further investigations show that electronic interaction between metallic Ru core and amorphous RuP shell tunes the absorption strength of hydrogen to boost the HER activity. This work exemplifies an effective strategy to enhance the electrocatalytic performance via interfacial electronic interaction and may shed light on crystalline/amorphous heterostructured catalysts.