China's new alloy catalysts enhance water-splitting efficiency

A team of scientists from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science in China has created new catalysts that can efficiently split water to produce hydrogen. Led by Professor Liang Changhao, the researchers focused on making alloy catalysts using ruthenium (Ru) combined with other metals like copper (Cu), rhodium (Rh), and palladium (Pd). Their results were published in a scientific journal called Advanced Science. These new catalysts are smaller than 5 nanometers in size, which is important for their performance. Traditionally, creating these sub-5 nm alloys has been challenging due to issues with mixing the metals. To address this, the team used a technique called nanosecond laser ultrafast confined alloying (LUCA). This method helped them successfully mix the metals to form highly effective catalysts. One of the best-performing catalysts, made of 95% Ru and 5% Cu, showed impressive results in a test for generating hydrogen. It achieved a low overpotential of 17 millivolts and a Tafel slope of 28.4 millivolts per decentiampere, indicating its high efficiency. Additionally, this catalyst maintained its performance even after thousands of testing cycles. The Cu-based catalyst outperformed other synthesized catalysts and commercial benchmarks, including platinum catalysts, which are known for their effectiveness. The researchers believe that using non-noble metals like copper can make the production of these catalysts more cost-effective and suitable for large-scale applications. Overall, this study showcases the potential of LUCA to develop new types of catalysts for hydrogen production, which could be vital for sustainable energy solutions.