How the Arrangement of Platinum Atoms on Ruthenium Nanoparticles Improves Hydrogen Evolution Activity

Li, Qinyu; Cheong, Soshan; Poerwoprajitno, Agus R.; Xiang, Shuting; Frenkel, Anatoly I.; Yang, Yuwei; Bedford, Nicholas M.; Umer, Sohaib; Lessio, Martina; Ohnishi, Ichiro; Ramadhan, Zeno R.; Huber, Dale L.; Dai, Liming; Schuhmann, Wolfgang; Gooding, J. Justin; Tilley, Richard D.

doi:10.1002/adma.202509610

Title: How the Arrangement of Platinum Atoms on Ruthenium Nanoparticles Improves Hydrogen Evolution Activity

Journal Article · Tue Jul 22 00:00:00 UTC 2025 · Advanced Materials

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202509610 · OSTI ID:2583709

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Univ. of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW (Australia)
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies
Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)
Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
JEOL, Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)
Ruhr Univ., Bochum (Germany)

The platinum‐ruthenium (PtRu) system is highly active for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline media with both Pt and Ru playing active roles in the water dissociation step that generates adsorbed hydrogen atoms. Precise control of the arrangement of Pt atoms on Ru nanoparticles can maximize the Pt‐Ru sites for water dissociation and Pt‐Pt sites for hydrogen production and can considerably improve HER catalytic performance. By directing the growth and distribution of Pt on Ru hourglass nanoparticles, the arrangement of Pt on Ru is controlled into forming Pt islands, small Pt clusters, and strings of a few Pt atoms. Calculations show that the unique atomic string arrangements of Pt on Ru is the thermodynamically favorable configuration. Additionally, these strings have a favorable combination of Pt‐Ru and Pt‐Pt sites, making the Pt‐string on Ru the most active catalyst with a more than fivefold increase in turnover frequency for alkaline HER compared to the Pt‐island on Ru catalyst. The results show how controlling the Pt atomic arrangement on Ru nanoparticle surfaces for the tuning of Pt‐Pt and Pt‐Ru neighboring sites can direct toward a more efficient HER mechanism and thereby significantly enhancing HER performance.

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Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: Australian Research Council; Australian Research Council (ARC); German Research Foundation (DFG); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003525; SC0012704

OSTI ID:: 2583709

Report Number(s):: BNL--228538-2025-JAAM

Journal Information:: Advanced Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Materials Journal Issue: 41 Vol. 37; ISSN 1521-4095; ISSN 0935-9648

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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