Silicon monoxide assisted synthesis of Ru modified carbon nanocomposites as high mass activity electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution

Abstract Extremely low content of Ruthenium (Ru) nanoparticles were loaded on the carbon black (Ru/C) via reducing Ru ions with silicon monoxide. The obtained Ru/C nanocomposites exhibit an exciting electrochemical catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in the oxygen-free 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 medium. The optical one (Ru/C-2) with a low Ru amount of 2.34% shows higher activity than previously reported Ru-based catalysts. The overpotential at 10 mA cm −2 is 114 mV and the Tafel slope is 67 mV·dec −1 . Ru/C-2 catalyst also has good stability. The overpotential that afford the current density of 10 mA cm −2 of 20 wt% Pt/C increased 92 mV while that of Ru/C-2 only increased 50 mV after a 30,000 s chronopotentiometry test. Furthermore, the mass activity of Ru/C-2 catalyst is even better than that of the commercial 20 wt% Pt/C when the overpotential is larger than 0.18 V. This silicon monoxide-mediated strategy may open a new way for the fabrication of high performance electrocatalysts.