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Updated: May 26, 2025
The Synthesis, Characterization and Reactivity of a Series of Ruthenium N-triphosPh Complexes
Published on: April 10, 2015
Cobalt-Doped Ru@RuO2 Core-Shell Heterostructure for Efficient Acidic Water Oxidation in Low-Ru-Loading Proton
Jinghao Chen1, Yirui Ma1, Chen Cheng2
1Department of Applied Chemistry School of Chemistry and Materials Science Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China.
Abstract:
Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) is a highly promising hydrogen production technology for enabling a sustainable energy supply. Herein, we synthesize a single-atom Co-doped core-shell heterostructured Ru@RuO2 (Co-Ru@RuO2) catalyst via a combination of ultrafast pulse-heating and calcination methods as an iridium (Ir)-free and durable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst in acidic conditions. Co-Ru@RuO2 exhibits a low overpotential of 203 mV and excellent stability over a 400 h durability test at 10 mA cm-2. When implemented in industrial PEMWE devices, a current density of 1 A cm-2 is achieved with only 1.58 V under an extremely low catalyst loading of 0.34 mgRu cm-2, which is decreased by 4 to 6 times as compared to other reported Ru-based catalysts. Even at 500 mA cm-2, the PEMWE device could work stably for more than 200 h. Structural characterizations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the single-atom Co doping and the core-shell heterostructure of Ru@RuO2 modulate the electronic structure of pristine RuO2, which reduce the energy barriers of OER and improve the stability of surface Ru. This work provides a unique avenue to guide future developments on low-cost PEMWE devices for hydrogen production.
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