Seed-assisted synthesis of fcc Ru-Cu bimetallic nanostructures and their catalytic properties for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Adjusting the chemical composition and/or crystal structures is an important approach to tune the activity of catalysts. Herein, we reported a facile one-step synthesis procedure of Ru-Cu bimetallic nanostructures with the fcc phase, in which the growth of fcc-Ru was induced by the fcc-Cu seeds. By controlling the proportion of the Cu 2+ and Ru 3+ precursors, Cu x -Ru 1− x with varied compositions of Ru and Cu including pure fcc-Cu nanocrystals and hcp-Ru nanocrystals could be prepared. The catalytic performance of the as-prepared Cu x -Ru 1− x nanocrystals for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was studied, which showed very promising long-term HER activity in an acidic environment, with an overpotential as low as 67 mV at 10 mA cm −2 for 13 hour testing obtained in the Cu 0.25 -Ru 0.75 nanostructures. Adjusting the chemical composition and/or crystal structures is an important approach to tune the activity of catalysts.