Copper phosphide coupled with amorphous ruthenium on scaffold surfaces synergistically enhances hydrogen production

Water electrolysis is an ideal way to obtain “green hydrogen”, but the core challenge of its commercial application is to develop advanced electrocatalysts that can work efficiently and stably under wide pH conditions. In this study, we innovatively constructed a Cu₃P support with a unique pyramid-like crystal structure by controllable surface oxidation and phosphating treatment on the three-dimensional (3D) copper foam skeleton, and further loaded ruthenium (Ru) to form a Ru-Cu₃P/CF self-supporting electrode to form a unique composite structure. Ampere-grade hydrogen evolution at full pH was achieved. Benefiting from the fast charge transport guaranteed by the 3D conductive network, and the electronic synergistic effect between Ru and Cu₃P support. the as-prepared Ru-Cu₃P/CF catalyst enables better catalytic performance than commercial Pt/C catalyst in the whole pH range. Under alkaline and acidic conditions, the overpotential required to drive hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) to current density of 1 A·cm⁻² is only 241.7 and 281.3 mV. At the same time, under the working condition, Ru-Cu₃P/CF also inherits excellent HER performance, which realizes the efficient electrolysis of seawater to produce hydrogen and the ampere-grade hydrogen evolution at low voltage (1.79 V) on the integrated membrane electrode assembly. The performance of Ru-Cu₃P/CF catalyst is significantly better than that of most reported Ru-based catalysts. This work provides a new idea for the design of integrated electrocatalysts with high performance and low noble metal loading.