Electrochemical water splitting is regarded as a prospective means for H₂ production. The lack of efficient active sites and the sluggish kinetics in alkaline media remain the major obstacles for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, a rational construction of Ru-doped cobalt phosphide leaf-like nanoarrays supported on carbon cloth (Ru-CoP NAs) was designed via a MOF-derived route and subsequent phosphating treatment for accelerating HER in the alkaline. The unique hierarchical structure is conductive to exposing more active sites and accelerating the diffusion of electrolyte and the release of H₂ bubble. The optimized Ru-CoP-2.5 NAs exhibits a small overpotential of 52 mV to drive 10 mA cm⁻² for HER and a low Tafel slope of 39.7 mV dec⁻¹ in 1 M KOH, which outperforms most of other reported CoP-based electrocatalysts. Furthermore, density functional theory (DFT) calculations unveil that Ru dopants can modulate the electron environment around pure CoP and optimize the adsorption energy of H*, accelerating the reaction kinetics. This work provides an insight to promote the electrocatalytic activity of metal phosphide for hydrogen production.

电化学水分解被认为是一种有前景的H ₂生产方法。在碱性介质中缺乏有效的活性位点和缓慢的动力学仍然是析氢反应（HER）的主要障碍。在此，通过 MOF 衍生路线和随后的磷化处理，设计了一种合理构建的碳布负载钌掺杂的磷化钴叶状纳米阵列 (Ru-CoP NAs)，以加速碱性中的 HER。独特的层次结构有利于暴露更多的活性位点，加速电解液的扩散和H ₂气泡的释放。优化的 Ru-CoP-2.5 NAs 表现出 52 mV 的小过电势来驱动 10 mA cm ^-2的 HER 和 39.7 mV dec ^{-1的低 Tafel 斜率}在 1 M KOH 中，其性能优于大多数其他报道的基于 CoP 的电催化剂。此外，密度泛函理论 (DFT) 计算表明，Ru 掺杂剂可以调节纯 CoP 周围的电子环境并优化 H* 的吸附能，从而加速反应动力学。这项工作为促进金属磷化物的电催化活性产氢提供了新思路。