Controlled tellurization for constructing Ru/RuTe2 heterostructures toward high-efficiency alkaline hydrogen evolution

Tellurization has emerged as a promising strategy for developing high-performance electrocatalysts for hydrogen production, yet achieving controlled modification over Ru-based systems remains challenging in precise modification of phase composition and electronic structures. Herein, a rapid annealing-driven tellurization strategy was demonstrated to construct hetero-structured Ru/RuTe 2 nanoparticles from commercial RuO 2 and Te powder. The resulting Ru/RuTe 2 catalyst exhibits exceptional electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity with an overpotential of 29 mV at 10 mA cm −2 and remarkable stability after 10k cycles of ADT test and 30 h of chronoamperometry (CA) test. Within an alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) system, the electrodes exhibit an ultralow cell voltage of 1.62 V to achieve 0.5 A cm −2 with outstanding durability for 1000 h, demonstrating the mixed-valence Ru heterostructure optimizes interfacial charge transfer kinetics and intrinsic activity. This study paves a new pathway toward high-efficiency and durable Ru-based heterostructures for water electrolysis through controlled surface engineering.