Synergistic effect of p-type and n-type dopants in semiconductors for efficient electrocatalytic water splitting.

The main challenge for acidic water electrolysis is the lack of active and stable oxygen evolution catalysts based on abundant materials, which are globally scalable. Iridium oxide is the only material which is active and stable. However, Ir is extremely rare.

Lifting the discrepancy between experimental results and the theoretical predictions for the catalytic activity of RuO(110) towards oxygen evolution reaction.

Developing new efficient catalyst materials for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is essential for widespread proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer use. Both RuO(110) and IrO(110) have been shown to be highly active OER catalysts, however DFT predictions have been unable to explain the high activity of RuO. We propose that this discrepancy is due to RuO utilizing a different reaction pathway, as compared to the conventional IrO pathway.