Ru-based nanomaterials have been demonstrated to be highly active electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), yet weak water adsorption and splitting ability in neutral media thus it is rather difficult for the intermediates to adsorb on the active site. Herein, we introduce a concept of the proximity effect, comprising adjacent Ru and RuO nanoparticles coupled on TiO (Ru/RuO-TiO), for the synergic promotion of water molecule adsorption and splitting, significantly enhancing HER electrocatalysis performance. The spectroscopy experiments and density function theory (DFT) simulations demonstrated that the proximity effect between the adjacent Ru nanoparticles and RuO nanoparticles can accelerate water adsorption and splitting. As a result, the as-made Ru/RuO-TiO only need overpotentials of 52.7, 16.0, and 16.4 mV to achieve the current density of 10 mA cm in neutral, acid, and alkaline media, respectively. The mass activity of Ru/RuO-TiO in neutral media is 320 and 117 times higher than that of commercial Ru/C and Pt/C at the overpotential of 100 mV, respectively. This work emphasizes the proximity effect for activation of reactants which can be extended to other electrocatalytic reactions.

中文翻译：

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通过 Ru/RuO2-TiO2 纳米催化剂的邻近效应增强中性介质中的析氢


钌基纳米材料已被证明是析氢反应（HER）的高活性电催化剂，但在中性介质中吸水和分解能力较弱，因此中间体很难吸附在活性位点上。在此，我们引入了邻近效应的概念，由邻近的Ru和RuO纳米粒子偶联在TiO上（Ru/RuO-TiO），协同促进水分子的吸附和分裂，显着增强HER电催化性能。光谱实验和密度函数理论（DFT）模拟表明，相邻Ru纳米颗粒和RuO纳米颗粒之间的邻近效应可以加速水的吸附和分解。结果，所制备的Ru/RuO-TiO仅需要52.7、16.0和16.4 mV的过电势即可在中性、酸性和碱性介质中分别达到10 mA cm的电流密度。在100 mV的过电位下，Ru/RuO-TiO在中性介质中的质量活性分别比商业Ru/C和Pt/C高320和117倍。这项工作强调了反应物活化的邻近效应，可以扩展到其他电催化反应。