Ru₂P Nanoparticle Decorated P/N-Doped Carbon Nanofibers on Carbon Cloth as a Robust Hierarchical Electrocatalyst with Platinum-Comparable Activity toward Hydrogen Evolution

It is desirable yet challenging to develop highly active and durable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts with Pt-comparable activity for future energy devices. In this work, we report Ru2P nanoparticle decorated P/N dual-doped carbon nanofibers on carbon cloth (Ru2P@PNC/CC-900) as a highly efficient and durable hierarchical HER electrocatalyst in both acidic and alkaline media. Electrochemical tests show that this Ru2P@PNC/CC-900 possesses Pt-comparable HER activity to support 10 mA cm–2 HER current density at low overpotential of 15 and 50 mV in acidic and alkaline condition, respectively. Density functional theory calculations reveal that coupling Ru2P nanoparticles with heteroatom-doped carbon fibers leads to enhanced intrinsic HER activity. The integrative hierarchical architecture further endows high surface areas with good mechanical robustness to support abundant catalytically active sites and possesses excellent electrical conductivity and efficient access for mass transportation to facilitate the HER process.