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Updated: Jan 14, 2026

Heterogeneous Removal of Water-Soluble Ruthenium Olefin Metathesis Catalyst from Aqueous Media Via Host-Guest Interaction
Published on: August 23, 2018
Temperature-dependent mechanism evolution on RhRu3Ox for acidic water oxidation
Ming-Rong Qu1, Heng Liu2, Si-Hua Feng3
1Department of Chemistry, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Institute of Biomimetic Materials and Chemistry, Anhui Engineering Laboratory of Biomimetic Materials, Division of Nanomaterials and Chemistry, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Temperature influences the oxygen evolution reaction mechanism in RhRu3Ox catalysts. This discovery offers new strategies for enhancing catalyst stability in electrochemical devices, crucial for energy conversion applications.
Area of Science:
- Electrochemistry
- Materials Science
- Catalysis
Background:
- The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is vital for energy conversion devices but limited by the stability of non-iridium catalysts.
- Developing stable and efficient OER catalysts is critical for large-scale electrochemical applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the temperature-dependent mechanism evolution of RhRu3Ox during the oxygen evolution reaction.
- To explore temperature-triggered pathway manipulation for optimizing catalyst stability.
- To evaluate the practical applicability of RhRu3Ox in proton exchange membrane electrolyzers.
Main Methods:
- Operando differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) to study reaction mechanisms.
- Proton exchange membrane electrolyzer assembly for stability testing.
- Density functional theory (DFT) calculations to elucidate reaction barriers.
Main Results:
- A temperature-dependent mechanism evolution effect was observed for RhRu3Ox during OER.
- RhRu3Ox demonstrated remarkable stability (>1000 hours at 200 mA cm⁻²) in a proton exchange membrane electrolyzer at room temperature.
- DFT suggests a kinetic barrier related to lattice oxygen activation influences the temperature-dependent behavior.
Conclusions:
- Temperature plays a critical role in dictating the OER mechanism of RhRu3Ox.
- Temperature-dependent pathway regulation is a promising strategy for enhancing catalyst stability.
- RhRu3Ox exhibits excellent stability, making it a viable candidate for practical energy conversion devices.
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