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Updated: May 15, 2026
08:12
Surface Functionalization of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Improved Moisture Resistance
Published on: September 5, 2018
Tailored Bond Heterogeneity through High-Entropy Doping for Efficient Acidic Water Oxidation
Sihwa Lee1, Jaehyuk Shim1,2,3,4, Kangjae Lee2,5
1KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea.
Journal of the American Chemical Society
|May 14, 2026
Summary
Ruthenium catalysts show promise for water electrolysis but degrade quickly. A new high-entropy doping strategy enhances catalyst stability at both atomic and lattice levels, improving durability for oxygen evolution reactions.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Catalysis
Background:
- Ruthenium (Ru)-based catalysts are explored as alternatives to Iridium (Ir) for oxygen evolution reactions (OER) in proton exchange membrane water electrolysis.
- Current challenges include rapid dissolution of Ru catalysts in acidic environments, limiting their practical application.
- Existing stabilization methods like elemental doping and high-entropy materials have limitations, such as incomplete stabilization or active site dilution.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel high-entropy doping (HED) strategy for stabilizing Ru-based catalysts.
- To achieve simultaneous atomic-scale and lattice-scale stabilization of Ru catalysts for enhanced durability.
- To optimize the electronic structure and catalytic performance of Ru catalysts for OER.
Main Methods:
- Implementation of a high-entropy doping strategy integrating multiple foreign elements at the atomic dopant level in RuO2.
- Characterization of the resulting Ru-O bond heterogeneity and multiaxial lattice distortion.
- Evaluation of catalyst durability using stability metrics, including the stability number (S-number).
Main Results:
- The HED strategy successfully achieved both atomic-scale and lattice-scale stabilization of the Ru catalyst.
- Ru-O bond heterogeneity microscopically optimized the electronic structure of active Ru sites.
- The optimized HED1/RuO2 catalyst demonstrated long-term durability with a stability number of 2.4 × 10^6, nearing IrO2 benchmarks.
Conclusions:
- High-entropy doping is an effective strategy for enhancing the stability and durability of Ru-based catalysts for OER.
- This approach addresses limitations of conventional doping and high-entropy materials by providing multi-scale stabilization.
- The developed HED1/RuO2 catalyst shows significant potential for practical application in water electrolysis, approaching the performance of iridium-based catalysts.
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