Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution over Single-Atom Catalysts via Electrostatic Polarization in Contact-electro-catalysis

Contact-electrification (CE) is a ubiquitous effect that would render two contact surfaces being reversely charged. These charged surfaces would induce an electric field in space, but polarization caused by this CE-derived electric field has long been ignored. Here, we propose an electrostatic polarization strategy to improve the performance of single-atom catalysts (SACs) based on this CE-derived electric field. Exemplified by Ru 1 /SiO 2, its hydrogen yield could be enhanced by 7.62 times after improving the CE ability of the SiO 2 substrate by fluorination. Such enhancement should mainly be ascribed to the expedited CE effect on fluorinated SiO 2 substrates, which not only facilitates the water dissociation process but also establishes a strong electric field for improving the reduction activity of Ru SAs and the electrostatic attraction of protons. In addition, this strategy is feasible for SACs based on carbon substrates, further suggesting its generalizability. The practicability of Ru 1 /F-SiO 2 was demonstrated through hydrogen evolution from real seawater, achieving a yield of 1.01 mmol·g –1 ·h –1 over 200 h. We expect this electrostatic polarization-based strategy to form a universal route for enhancing the activity of SACs.