Effectiveness of strain and dopants on breaking the activity-stability trade-off of RuO2 acidic oxygen evolution electrocatalysts

Yang Liu, Yixuan Wang, Hao Li, Min Gyu Kim, Ziyang Duan, Kainat Talat, Jin Yong Lee, Mingbo Wu and Hyoyoung Lee ()
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Yang Liu: Shandong University
Yixuan Wang: Sungkyunkwan University
Hao Li: Sungkyunkwan University
Min Gyu Kim: Pohang University of Science and Technology
Ziyang Duan: Sungkyunkwan University
Kainat Talat: Sungkyunkwan University
Jin Yong Lee: Sungkyunkwan University
Mingbo Wu: China University of Petroleum (East China)
Hyoyoung Lee: Sungkyunkwan University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56638-8

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