Self-Supported WO₃@RuO₂ Nanowires for Electrocatalytic Acidic Water Oxidation

Developing catalysts with high catalytic activity and stability in acidic media is crucial for advancing hydrogen production in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs). To this end, a self-supported WO₃@RuO₂ nanowire structure was grown in situ on a titanium mesh using hydrothermal and ion-exchange methods. Despite a Ru loading of only 0.098 wt %, it achieves an overpotential of 246 mV for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at a current density of 10 mA·cm^-2 in acidic 0.5 M H₂SO₄ while maintaining excellent stability over 50 h, much better than that of the commercial RuO₂. After the establishment of the WO₃@RuO₂ heterostructure, a reduced overpotential of the rate-determining step from M-O* to M-OOH* is confirmed by the DFT calculation. Meanwhile, its enhanced OER kinetics are also greatly improved by this self-supported system in the absence of the organic binder, leading to a reduced interface resistance between active sites and electrolytes. This work presents a promising approach to minimize the use of noble metals for large-scale PEMWE applications.