Corrosion strategy for synthesizing Ru-decorated FeOOH nanoneedles as advanced hydrogen evolution reaction catalysts

Developing economical and efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts is essential for achieving clean hydrogen energy from water electrolysis. Herein, RuFe−based catalysts have been synthesized on the porous iron foam through adopting a facile corrosion strategy. The iron corrosion environment is modulated by introducing the corrosion inhibitors containing amine groups. It is uncovered that urea molecules are beneficial for constructing the moderate corrosion environment to achieve the nanoneedle-like Ru-decorated FeOOH corrosion layers. Because of the synergistic effect between Ru and Fe atoms on hydrogen absorption regulation, the prepared RuFe−U catalyst displays the low overpotential of 113 mV to acquire the current density of 100 mA cm −2 along with prominent durability of continuously operating at 100 mA cm −2 for over 20 h. Moreover, the assembled water splitting electrolyzer affords the voltage of 1.533 V to achieve the current density of 100 mA cm −2 . This work confirms that the corrosion strategy is a promising approach for synthesizing high-performance electrocatalysts for energy conversion application.