Engineering a high-performance amorphous/crystalline electrocatalyst from Rosa roxburghii pomace for ultra-stable alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction

Designing highly efficient, economically viable, and durable electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline electrolytes is critical for sustainable H 2 generation. The electrocatalytic performance of catalyst typically depends on the number of surface-active sites. The amorphous/crystalline hetero-interface demonstrates distinctive properties, offering a novel approach to designing high-performance electrocatalysts with abundant active sites. In this work, nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) and ZIF-67-derived CNTs are strategically coupled to stabilize Ru-doped Co catalyst with amorphous/crystalline shell-core architecture. Ru doping optimizes the charge distribution of Co active sites, lowering the potential barrier for H 2 O dissociation and improving proton adsorption kinetics, thereby significantly improving the HER activity. Furthermore, the amorphous/crystalline structure creates active sites with high inherent activity, while the CNTs derived from ZIF-67 act as electron pathways and protective layers, significantly boosting OER performance. Specifically, the Ru-acCo@NC/CNTs needs a low overpotentials of only 32 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm −2 in alkaline solution, which is obviously lower than that of cCo@NC/CNT (53 mV) and cCo@NC (244 mV). Besides, Ru-acCo@NC/CNTs catalyst exhibits great durability over 600 h working at 10 mA cm −2 . Despite persistent challenges in high-current operation, this work establishes a feasible strategy to developing efficient HER electrocatalysts for sustainable energy technologies. In this work, nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) and ZIF-67-derived CNTs are strategically coupled to stabilize a Ru-doped Co catalyst with amorphous/crystalline shell-core architecture. DFT calculations demonstrate that the amorphous/crystalline coupling effect can regulate electronic structures to optimize intermediate adsorption, thereby significantly enhancing alkaline HER kinetics. • Cobalt composed of amorphous and crystalline phase with a hetero-interface. • The strong coupled electron at amorphous/crystalline interface lowers the HER kinetic barrier. • The Ru-acCo@NC/CNTs catalyst delivers superior HER performance (32 mV@10 mA cm −2 ). • The CNTs derived from ZIF-67 with high conductivity and long-term stability is demonstrated.