Effectiveness of strain and dopants on breaking the activity-stability trade-off of RuO2 acidic oxygen evolution electrocatalysts
Abstract Ruthenium dioxide electrocatalysts for acidic oxygen evolution reaction suffer from mediocre activity and rather instability induced by high ruthenium-oxygen covalency. Here, the tensile strained strontium and tantalum codoped ruthenium dioxide nanocatalysts are synthesized via a molten sal...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56638-8 |
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| author | Yang Liu Yixuan Wang Hao Li Min Gyu Kim Ziyang Duan Kainat Talat Jin Yong Lee Mingbo Wu Hyoyoung Lee |
| author_facet | Yang Liu Yixuan Wang Hao Li Min Gyu Kim Ziyang Duan Kainat Talat Jin Yong Lee Mingbo Wu Hyoyoung Lee |
| author_sort | Yang Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Ruthenium dioxide electrocatalysts for acidic oxygen evolution reaction suffer from mediocre activity and rather instability induced by high ruthenium-oxygen covalency. Here, the tensile strained strontium and tantalum codoped ruthenium dioxide nanocatalysts are synthesized via a molten salt-assisted quenching strategy. The tensile strained spacially elongates the ruthenium-oxygen bond and reduces covalency, thereby inhibiting the lattice oxygen participation and structural decomposition. The synergistic electronic modulations among strontium-tantalum-ruthenium groups both optimize deprotonation on oxygen sites and intermediates absorption on ruthenium sites, lowering the reaction energy barrier. Those result in a well-balanced activity-stability profile, confirmed by comprehensive experimental and theoretical analyses. Our strained electrode demonstrates an overpotential of 166 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in 0.5 M H2SO4 and an order of magnitude higher S-number, indicating comparable stability compared to bare catalyst. It exhibits negligible degradation rates within the long-term operation of single cell and PEM electrolyzer. This study elucidates the effectiveness of tensile strain and strategic doping in enhancing the activity and stability of ruthenium-based catalysts for acidic oxygen evolution reactions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-10bcd7c7eb614cf1ac95a99c190d67de |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-10bcd7c7eb614cf1ac95a99c190d67de2025-08-20T03:10:55ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-02-0116111210.1038/s41467-025-56638-8Effectiveness of strain and dopants on breaking the activity-stability trade-off of RuO2 acidic oxygen evolution electrocatalystsYang Liu0Yixuan Wang1Hao Li2Min Gyu Kim3Ziyang Duan4Kainat Talat5Jin Yong Lee6Mingbo Wu7Hyoyoung Lee8Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory for Science of Material Creation and Energy Conversion, Institute of Frontier Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong UniversityDepartment of Chemistry, Sungkyunkwan UniversityDepartment of Chemistry, Sungkyunkwan UniversityBeamline Research Division, Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, Pohang University of Science and TechnologySchool of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan UniversityDepartment of Chemistry, Sungkyunkwan UniversityDepartment of Chemistry, Sungkyunkwan UniversityState Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, College of Chemical Engineering, College of New Energy, China University of Petroleum (East China)Department of Chemistry, Sungkyunkwan UniversityAbstract Ruthenium dioxide electrocatalysts for acidic oxygen evolution reaction suffer from mediocre activity and rather instability induced by high ruthenium-oxygen covalency. Here, the tensile strained strontium and tantalum codoped ruthenium dioxide nanocatalysts are synthesized via a molten salt-assisted quenching strategy. The tensile strained spacially elongates the ruthenium-oxygen bond and reduces covalency, thereby inhibiting the lattice oxygen participation and structural decomposition. The synergistic electronic modulations among strontium-tantalum-ruthenium groups both optimize deprotonation on oxygen sites and intermediates absorption on ruthenium sites, lowering the reaction energy barrier. Those result in a well-balanced activity-stability profile, confirmed by comprehensive experimental and theoretical analyses. Our strained electrode demonstrates an overpotential of 166 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in 0.5 M H2SO4 and an order of magnitude higher S-number, indicating comparable stability compared to bare catalyst. It exhibits negligible degradation rates within the long-term operation of single cell and PEM electrolyzer. This study elucidates the effectiveness of tensile strain and strategic doping in enhancing the activity and stability of ruthenium-based catalysts for acidic oxygen evolution reactions.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56638-8 |
| spellingShingle | Yang Liu Yixuan Wang Hao Li Min Gyu Kim Ziyang Duan Kainat Talat Jin Yong Lee Mingbo Wu Hyoyoung Lee Effectiveness of strain and dopants on breaking the activity-stability trade-off of RuO2 acidic oxygen evolution electrocatalysts Nature Communications |
| title | Effectiveness of strain and dopants on breaking the activity-stability trade-off of RuO2 acidic oxygen evolution electrocatalysts |
| title_full | Effectiveness of strain and dopants on breaking the activity-stability trade-off of RuO2 acidic oxygen evolution electrocatalysts |
| title_fullStr | Effectiveness of strain and dopants on breaking the activity-stability trade-off of RuO2 acidic oxygen evolution electrocatalysts |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effectiveness of strain and dopants on breaking the activity-stability trade-off of RuO2 acidic oxygen evolution electrocatalysts |
| title_short | Effectiveness of strain and dopants on breaking the activity-stability trade-off of RuO2 acidic oxygen evolution electrocatalysts |
| title_sort | effectiveness of strain and dopants on breaking the activity stability trade off of ruo2 acidic oxygen evolution electrocatalysts |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56638-8 |
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