Hydrophobic Ionic Liquid Enhance Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Reaction on High-Specific-Surface Ruthenium-Doped Cobalt Catalysts†

The integration of Ru-Co/C with an ionic liquid (IL) boosts the hydrogen evolution reaction by altering hydrogen-bond interactions. The catalyst exhibits an overpotential as low as 26 mV to achieve 20 mA cm-2 in 1 M H2SO4. Molecular dynamics simulations were used to study the hydrogen-bond structures tuned by the IL on the catalyst.