Multisite engineering towards atomically dispersed Ru on Ni-Co-P composite with N-doped carbon matrix for robust water oxidation

Exploring cost-effective electrocatalysts with robust oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity is urgent for widespread application for many energy conversion technologies. However, the fundamental understanding on the source of highly active single atoms catalysts (SACs) at the atomic level is still lacking. Herein, an ultralow Ru SACs (0.2 wt%) anchored on transition metal phosphide composite with N-doped carbon matrix (Ru-Ni-Co-P/NC) is derived from RuNi-ZIF-67 via carbonization and subsequent phosphating, which effectively drives OER in the alkaline electrolyte. Abundant carbon defect sites and reorganized electronic structure of metal sites can collectively tailor the OER performance of Ru-Ni-Co-P/NC by structure and electron modulation. As expected, the resulting Ru-Ni-Co-P/NC catalyst delivers 318 mV overpotentials to afford 10 mA cm−2, and exhibits negligible performance degradation for OER. This finding elucidates a rational design of multisite nanomaterials as efficient electrocatalysts, illuminating a potential guide to meet high-performance electrocatalysts.