Bioinspired O₂-Evolution Catalysts with Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer Pathway for Portable Oxygen Generation.

Abstract

Producing high-purity oxygen (O₂) has a wide range of applications across diverse sectors, such as medicine, tunnel construction, the chemical industry, and fermentation. However, current O₂ production methods are burdened by complexity, heavy equipment, high energy consumption, and limited adaptability to harsh environments. Here, to address this grand challenge, the de novo design of Ru-doped metal hydroxide is proposed to serve as bioinspired O₂-evolution catalysts with proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) pathway for low-energy, environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and portable O₂ generation. The comprehensive studies confirm that the lattice H species in Ru-Co(OH)_x-based O₂-evolution catalyst can trigger a PCET pathway to optimize Ru-oxygen intermediates interactions, thus ultimately reducing reaction energy barriers and improving the activities and durabilities. Consequently, the prepared Ru-Co(OH)_x-loaded membrane catalysts exhibit rapid and long-term stable O₂ production capabilities. Furthermore, the proposed material design strategy of lattice H-species shows remarkable universality and adaptability to broad Ru-doped metal hydroxides. This efficient, portable, and cost-effective O₂ generation technique is suggested to ensure an uninterrupted O₂ supply during emergencies and in regions with limited O₂ availability or air pollution, thus offering significant societal benefits in broad applications.