Interfacial Carbon Makes Nano-Particulate RuO2 an Efficient, Stable, pH-Universal Catalyst for Splitting of Seawater

Abstract

An electrocatalyst composed of RuO₂ surrounded by interfacial carbon, is synthesized through controllable oxidization-calcination. This electrocatalyst provides efficient charge transfer, numerous active sites, and promising activity for pH-universal electrocatalytic overall seawater splitting. An electrolyzer with this catalyst gives current densities of 10 mA cm^-2 at a record low cell voltage of 1.52 V, and shows excellent durability at current densities of 10 mA cm^-2 for up to 100 h. Based on the results, a mechanism for the catalytic activity of the composite is proposed. Finally, a solar-driven system is assembled and used for overall seawater splitting, showing 95% Faraday efficiency.

Keywords: RuO 2-based electrocatalysts; directed transformation; hierarchical nanostructures; interface engineering; seawater splitting.