Bi-doped ruthenium oxide nanocrystal for water oxidation in acidic media.

There is an urgent need to develop a cost-effective and highly efficient acidic OER catalyst to support the progress of proton exchange membrane water electrolysis technology. Ruthenium-based catalysts, which possess high activity and significantly lower cost compared to iridium-based catalysts, emerge as competitive candidates. However, their suboptimal stability constrains the wide application of RuO.

Self-protecting CoFeAl-layered double hydroxides enable stable and efficient brine oxidation at 2 A cm.

Low-energy consumption seawater electrolysis at high current density is an effective way for hydrogen production, however the continuous feeding of seawater may result in the accumulation of Cl, leading to severe anode poisoning and corrosion, thereby compromising the activity and stability. Herein, CoFeAl layered double hydroxide anodes with excellent oxygen evolution reaction activity are synthesized and delivered stable catalytic performance for 350 hours at 2 A cm in the presence of 6-fold concentrated seawater. Comprehensive analysis reveals that the Al ions in electrode are etched off by OH during oxygen evolution reaction process, resulting in M vacancies that boost oxygen evolution reaction activity.