CoRu/CNTs@Ti₃C₂ Nanocomposite for Highly Efficient and Stable Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Cheap, stable, and efficient catalysts were a prerequisite for the large-scale application of hydrogen energy. Herein, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were utilized as the carbon source and compounded with Ti3C2 MXene sheets under liquid-phase conditions to fabricate the CNTs@Ti3C2 skeleton. Then, ruthenium (Ru) chloride and cobalt (Co) nitrate were introduced as the metal source and carbonized the mixture at high temperature to obtain carbon/MXene composites loaded with cobalt-ruthenium metal nanoparticles (CoRu/CNTs@Ti3C2). Thanks to the uniform dispersion of CoRu nanoparticles on the surface of the CNTs@Ti3C2 skeleton, more catalytic active sites were exposed and that endowed the composite with excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance. Therefore, the obtained CoRu/CNTs@Ti3C2 composite exhibited a relatively low HER overpotential (η10) of 74 mV and a Tafel slope of 80 mV·dec–1 under acidic electrolyte (0.5 M H2SO4) with stable electrochemical activity (only increased by ∼10 mV after 3000 cycles testing). This work provided a feasible opportunity for the large-scale and low-cost production of stable and efficient catalysts for practical applications.