Ru single-atom regulated Ni(OH)2 nanowires coupled with FeOOH to achieve highly efficient overall water splitting at industrial current density

Developing cost-effective catalysts with exceptional catalytic performance for water electrolysis is of great value but challenging. Here, we developed a bifunctional electrocatalyst that couples Ru single atoms (RuSAs) doped Ni(OH)2 with FeOOH clusters to form a porous nanowires heterostructure, denoted as RuSAs/Ni(OH)2@FeOOH (i.e. RNF). The experimental results show that the RuSAs atomic doping modulates the electronic configuration of Ni(OH)2, and the successful construction of RNF heterostructures further enhances the electronic interactions. Theoretical calculations show that the synergy of RuSAs doped Ni(OH)2 and FeOOH not only improves charge transfer capability but also accelerates the dissociation of water, optimizing the adsorption free energy of adsorbed intermediates in the electrochemical process, leading to superior bifunctional electrocatalytic performance. For the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions (HER and OER), RNF only needs overpotentials of 267 and 386 mV to realize 1000 mA cm−2, respectively, significantly superior to commercial Pt/C and RuO2. Furthermore, a homemade alkaline electrolyzer assembled with RNF electrodes as anode and cathode, which only needs a voltage of 1.88 V to achieve 1000 mA cm−2, and exhibits good stability. This study proposes a guide for preparing exceptional dual-function electrocatalysts for industrial-level water electrolysis.