Engineering Ru clusters catalytic sites on NiVP for electrocatalytic urea-assisted water splitting

The incorporation of bifunctional active centers into alkaline urea-assisted electrolytic systems is essential for improving the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and urea oxidation reaction (UOR) activity, but its practical application still encounters substantial technical obstacles. Herein, we synthesized a novel bifunctional electrocatalyst with excellent HER and UOR performances (19 mV @10 mA cm −2 and 1.32 V@100 mA cm −2 , respectively). Density functional theory calculations and in-situ Raman experiments reveal that anchoring of the Ru clusters modulates the electronic environment, promoting water splitting during the HER process and balancing the adsorption-desorption equilibrium during the UOR process. Besides, during the UOR, the pre-oxidized Ni(OH) 2 remained structurally intact, thus corroborating the structural robustness of Ni(OH) 2 across the operational range of the Ru-NiVP electrode. Demonstrating exceptional performance, the Ru-NiVP catalyst enabled urea-assisted water splitting at merely 1.42 V (@10 mA cm −2 ), sustaining stable activity throughout 100 h test duration, strongly demonstrating its high value for subsequent economical and sustainable hydrogen production.