Trace Lattice S Inserted RuO2 Flexible Nanosheets for Efficient and Long-Term Acidic Oxygen Evolution Catalysis

Liangbin Liu; Yujin Ji; Wentao You; Shangheng Liu; Qi Shao; Qingyu Kong; Zhiwei Hu; Huabing Tao; Lingzheng Bu; Xiaoqing Huang

doi:10.1002/smll.202208202

Trace Lattice S Inserted RuO₂ Flexible Nanosheets for Efficient and Long-Term Acidic Oxygen Evolution Catalysis

Small. 2023 Sep;19(38):e2208202. doi: 10.1002/smll.202208202. Epub 2023 May 24.

Authors

Liangbin Liu¹, Yujin Ji², Wentao You¹, Shangheng Liu¹, Qi Shao³, Qingyu Kong^{4

5}, Zhiwei Hu⁶, Huabing Tao¹, Lingzheng Bu¹, Xiaoqing Huang¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, P. R. China.
² Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Jiangsu, 215123, P. R. China.
³ College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Jiangsu, 215123, P. R. China.
⁴ Synchrotron Soleil, L'Orme des Merisiers, St-Aubin, Gif-sur-Yvette, CEDEX, 91192, France.
⁵ School of Physical Science and Information Technology, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, 252059, P. R. China.
⁶ Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Nothnitzer Strasse 40, 01187, Dresden, Germany.

PMID: 37222629
DOI: 10.1002/smll.202208202

Abstract

Pursuing highly active and long-term stable ruthenium (Ru) based oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst for water electrolysis under acidic conditions is of great significance yet a tremendous challenge to date. To solve the problem of serious Ru corrosion in an acid medium, the trace lattice sulfur (S) inserted RuO₂ catalyst is prepared. The optimized catalyst (Ru/S NSs-400) has shown a record stability of 600 h for the solely containing Ru (iridium-free) nanomaterials. In the practical proton exchange membrane device, the Ru/S NSs-400 can even sustain more than 300 h without obvious decay at the high current density of 250 mA cm^-2 . The detailed investigations reveal that S doping not only changes the electronic structure of Ru via forming RuS coordination for high adsorption of reaction intermediates but also stabilizes Ru from over-oxidation. This strategy is also effective for improving the stability of commercial Ru/C and homemade Ru-based nanoparticles. This work offers a highly effective strategy to design high-performance OER catalysts for water splitting and beyond.

Keywords: RuO2; acidic condition; lattice S; oxygen evolution reaction; stability.

Abstract

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