Fabrication of Ru/WO3-W2N/N-doped carbon sheets for hydrogen evolution reaction

Recent experimental analysis indicates WO 3 -based nanostructures exhibit poor hydrogen evolution reactivity, particularly in alkaline medium, arising from the low electron transfer rate. It is imperative to tune the composition and structure of WO 3 to boost the cleavage of H-OH bond. Here, we construct Ru/WO 3 -W 2 N/N-doped carbon sheets (Ru/WO 3 -W 2 N/NC) using m-WO 3 nanosheets as precursors with the aid of RuCl 3 , Tris (hydroxymethyl) aminomethane, and dopamine. Structural investigation reveals the formation of N-doped carbon sheets, Ru nanoparticles, and WO 3 -W 2 N. As a result, hydrogen evolution reactivity is greatly improved on Ru/WO 3 -W 2 N/N-doped carbon sheets with 64 mV at 10 mA/cm 2 in 1 mol/L (M) KOH, outperforming most of WO 3 -based electrocatalysts in previous literatures. Meanwhile, it facilitates the generation of H 2 in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 with the excellent activity of 110 mV at 10 mA/cm 2 . Our work provides an efficient strategy to tailor the electronic structure of WO 3 to catalyze acidic and alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction.