Water electrolysis activated by Ru nanorod array electrodes

Efficient hydrogen production is critical to fuel cell operation. One of the most convenient methods to produce hydrogen is via water electrolysis. However, overpotential losses at the cell electrodes results in poor efficiency. In this study we carried out water electrolysis experiments with ruthenium (Ru) nanorod arrays as the cathode. We show up to 25% reduction in overpotential and 20% reduction in energy consumption by use of the Ru nanorod cathode compared to the planar Ru cathode. We attribute the improvement to the increased active area of the nanostructured electrode which reduces the operating current density of the electrolyzer.