Ruthenium Single‐Atom Modulated Protonated Iridium Oxide for Acidic Water Oxidation in Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolysers

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Abstract
Proton exchange membrane water electrolysers promise to usher in a new era of clean energy, but they remain a formidable obstacle in designing active and durable electrocatalysts for the acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this study, a protonated iridium oxide embedded with single‐atom dispersed ruthenium atoms (H3.8Ir1−xRuxO4) that demonstrates exceptional activity and stability in acidic water oxidation is introduced. The single Ru dopants favorably induce localized oxygen vacancies in the Ir─O lattice, synergistically strengthening the adsorption of OOH* intermediates and enhancing the intrinsic OER activity. In addition, the preferential oxidation of Ru and the electronegativity of the oxygen vacancies significantly stabilize the Ir─O active sites, improving the OER stability. Consequently, the H3.8Ir1─xRuxO4 catalyst shows an overpotential of 255 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and displays exceptional catalytic endurance in acidic electrolytes, surpassing 1100 h, representing a remarkable one‐order‐of‐magnitude increase in stability compared to that of pristine H3.8IrO4. A proton exchange membrane electrolyser utilizing the H3.8Ir1−xRuxO4 catalyst as an anode exhibits stable performance for more than 1280 h under a high current density of 2 A cm−2.
Funding Information
  • National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFB4102000)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (22102018, 52171201, 22322201, 22278067, 22305029)
  • Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province (2023NSFSC0094, 2023NSFSC1075, 2023NSFSC0911)

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