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Cited by 76Electrocatalysts for Energy ConversionFuel Cells and Related MaterialsCO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts

Undoped ruthenium oxide as a stable catalyst for the acidic oxygen evolution reaction

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Tang, Jiayi, Guan, Daqin, Xu, Hengyue, Zhao, Leqi, Arshad, Ushtar, Fang, Zijun, Zhu, Tianjiu, Kim, Manjin +4 more·2025·Nature Communications
DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-56188-zPMC PMC11742407
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Abstract

Reducing green hydrogen production cost is critical for its widespread application. Proton-exchange-membrane water electrolyzers are among the most promising technologies, and significant research has been focused on developing more active, durable, and cost-effective catalysts to replace expensive iridium in the anode. Ruthenium oxide is a leading alternative while its stability is inadequate. While considerable progress has been made in designing doped Ru oxides and composites to improve stability, the uncertainty in true failure mechanism in acidic oxygen evolution reaction inhibits their further optimization. This study reveals that proton participation capability within Ru oxides is a critical factor contributing to their instability, which can induce catalyst pulverization and the collapse of the electrode structure. By restricting proton participation in the bulk phase and stabilizing the reaction interface, we demonstrate that the stability of Ru-oxide anodes can be notably improved, even under a high current density of 4 A cm‒2 for over 100 h. This work provides some insights into designing Ru oxide-based catalysts and anodes for practical water electrolyzer applications. Ruthenium oxide is a promising electrocatalyst in PEM water electrolyzers, with significant research efforts focused on doping to enhance its stability. Here, the authors report that ruthenium oxide can achieve stability without doping by inhibiting bulk-phase proton participation.

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  • The diffraction peaks at 38.4°, 42.1°, 44.0°, 58.3°, 69.4° and 78.4° correspond to the characteristic peaks of Ru (JCPDS no. 06-0663).

    “The diffraction peaks at 38.4°, 42.1°, 44.0°, 58.3°, 69.4° and 78.4° correspond to the characteristic peaks of Ru (JCPDS no. 06-0663).35,36”

    From Interface strain engineering of a Ru–RuO <sub> <i>x</i> </sub> /graphene aerogel composite boosts HER, OER and ORR applications (2026) · cites this paper as [36]

    The Results section identifies XRD peaks of rutile RuO₂ using PDF 04-009-7842, not peaks of elemental Ru. Searches for the six stated diffraction angles and JCPDS 06-0663 found no passage in our copy that addresses the claimed assignment. (LLM, conf=0.76)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Tang, J., Guan, D., Xu, H., Zhao, L., Arshad, U., Fang, Z., Zhu, T., Kim, M., Pao, C.-W., Hu, Z., Ge, J., & Shao, Z.
Affiliations
  • Curtin University (AU)
  • Tsinghua University (CN)
  • The University of Queensland (AU)
  • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (DE)
  • University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
Corresponding author
Shao, Zongping
ORCID
Venue
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2025-01-18
Volume
16
Issue
1
Pages
801-801
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41467-025-56188-z
PMC
PMC11742407
OpenAlex
W4406515746
Cited by
76
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 39 · 2025: 37
FWCI
10.49
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Pohang University of Science and Technology
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Fuel Cells and Related Materials
  • Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
Keywords
ruthenium oxide, acidic oxygen evolution reaction, proton exchange membrane electrolyzer, iridium-free electrocatalysts, green hydrogen production, failure mechanisms

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