Boosting the durability of RuO2 via confinement effect for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer

Abstract Ruthenium dioxide has attracted extensive attention as a promising catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction in acid. However, the over-oxidation of RuO2 into soluble H2RuO5 species results in a poor durability, which hinders the practical application of RuO2 in proton exchange membrane water...

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Main Authors: Wen-Xing Zheng, Xuan-Xuan Cheng, Ping-Ping Chen, Lin-Lin Wang, Ying Duan, Guo-Jin Feng, Xiao-Ran Wang, Jing-Jing Li, Chao Zhang, Zi-You Yu, Tong-Bu Lu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-01-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55747-0
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author Wen-Xing Zheng
Xuan-Xuan Cheng
Ping-Ping Chen
Lin-Lin Wang
Ying Duan
Guo-Jin Feng
Xiao-Ran Wang
Jing-Jing Li
Chao Zhang
Zi-You Yu
Tong-Bu Lu
author_facet Wen-Xing Zheng
Xuan-Xuan Cheng
Ping-Ping Chen
Lin-Lin Wang
Ying Duan
Guo-Jin Feng
Xiao-Ran Wang
Jing-Jing Li
Chao Zhang
Zi-You Yu
Tong-Bu Lu
author_sort Wen-Xing Zheng
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Ruthenium dioxide has attracted extensive attention as a promising catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction in acid. However, the over-oxidation of RuO2 into soluble H2RuO5 species results in a poor durability, which hinders the practical application of RuO2 in proton exchange membrane water electrolysis. Here, we report a confinement strategy by enriching a high local concentration of in-situ formed H2RuO5 species, which can effectively suppress the RuO2 degradation by shifting the redox equilibrium away from the RuO2 over-oxidation, greatly boosting its durability during acidic oxygen evolution. Therefore, the confined RuO2 catalyst can continuously operate at 10 mA cm–2 for over 400 h with negligible attenuation, and has a 14.8 times higher stability number than the unconfined RuO2 catalyst. An electrolyzer cell using the confined RuO2 catalyst as anode displays a notable durability of 300 h at 500 mA cm–2 and at 60 °C. This work demonstrates a promising design strategy for durable oxygen evolution reaction catalysts in acid via confinement engineering.
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publishDate 2025-01-01
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spelling doaj-art-4b7cd46db3bc462f8edb73f06f8d8b2a2025-01-05T12:40:56ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-01-011611910.1038/s41467-024-55747-0Boosting the durability of RuO2 via confinement effect for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzerWen-Xing Zheng0Xuan-Xuan Cheng1Ping-Ping Chen2Lin-Lin Wang3Ying Duan4Guo-Jin Feng5Xiao-Ran Wang6Jing-Jing Li7Chao Zhang8Zi-You Yu9Tong-Bu Lu10MOE International Joint Laboratory of Materials Microstructure, Institute for New Energy Materials and Low Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin University of TechnologyMOE International Joint Laboratory of Materials Microstructure, Institute for New Energy Materials and Low Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin University of TechnologyMOE International Joint Laboratory of Materials Microstructure, Institute for New Energy Materials and Low Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin University of TechnologyMOE International Joint Laboratory of Materials Microstructure, Institute for New Energy Materials and Low Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin University of TechnologyMOE International Joint Laboratory of Materials Microstructure, Institute for New Energy Materials and Low Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin University of TechnologyMOE International Joint Laboratory of Materials Microstructure, Institute for New Energy Materials and Low Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin University of TechnologyMOE International Joint Laboratory of Materials Microstructure, Institute for New Energy Materials and Low Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin University of TechnologyMOE International Joint Laboratory of Materials Microstructure, Institute for New Energy Materials and Low Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin University of TechnologyMOE International Joint Laboratory of Materials Microstructure, Institute for New Energy Materials and Low Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin University of TechnologyMOE International Joint Laboratory of Materials Microstructure, Institute for New Energy Materials and Low Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin University of TechnologyMOE International Joint Laboratory of Materials Microstructure, Institute for New Energy Materials and Low Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin University of TechnologyAbstract Ruthenium dioxide has attracted extensive attention as a promising catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction in acid. However, the over-oxidation of RuO2 into soluble H2RuO5 species results in a poor durability, which hinders the practical application of RuO2 in proton exchange membrane water electrolysis. Here, we report a confinement strategy by enriching a high local concentration of in-situ formed H2RuO5 species, which can effectively suppress the RuO2 degradation by shifting the redox equilibrium away from the RuO2 over-oxidation, greatly boosting its durability during acidic oxygen evolution. Therefore, the confined RuO2 catalyst can continuously operate at 10 mA cm–2 for over 400 h with negligible attenuation, and has a 14.8 times higher stability number than the unconfined RuO2 catalyst. An electrolyzer cell using the confined RuO2 catalyst as anode displays a notable durability of 300 h at 500 mA cm–2 and at 60 °C. This work demonstrates a promising design strategy for durable oxygen evolution reaction catalysts in acid via confinement engineering.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55747-0
spellingShingle Wen-Xing Zheng
Xuan-Xuan Cheng
Ping-Ping Chen
Lin-Lin Wang
Ying Duan
Guo-Jin Feng
Xiao-Ran Wang
Jing-Jing Li
Chao Zhang
Zi-You Yu
Tong-Bu Lu
Boosting the durability of RuO2 via confinement effect for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer
Nature Communications
title Boosting the durability of RuO2 via confinement effect for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer
title_full Boosting the durability of RuO2 via confinement effect for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer
title_fullStr Boosting the durability of RuO2 via confinement effect for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer
title_full_unstemmed Boosting the durability of RuO2 via confinement effect for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer
title_short Boosting the durability of RuO2 via confinement effect for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer
title_sort boosting the durability of ruo2 via confinement effect for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55747-0
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