Ni_0.85Se Inducing Strong Metal–Support Interaction Promotes Alkaline Hydrogen Electrooxidation on Ru

Strong metal–support interaction (SMSI) is widely recognized as an effective strategy for designing high-performance electrocatalysts but suffers from a loss in the number of active sites during the high-temperature process. Herein, a Ru-catalyst supported on Ni0.85Se nanosheets has been fabricated through a facile microwave-assisted synthesis. Spectral characterizations and theoretical calculations confirm that the SMSI is formed under mild conditions at the metal–support interfaces, resulting in well-regulated electronic structures of the active Ru species and a downshifted d-band center. It significantly weakens the binding strength to the oxygenated species, which alleviates the competitive adsorption of Had and OHad on Ru surfaces and hence increases the tolerance to form the OHad-monolayer adsorbed (poisoned) Ru surfaces. As a result, the obtained catalyst exhibits a 7-fold enhanced mass activity compared to the conventional carbon black supported Ru as well as the enlarged effective potential window toward the alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction. This work provides a facile strategy to construct SMSI under mild conditions for the design of high-performance electrocatalysts and can be expanded to other metal/metalloid compounds.