Inter-Doping ZrO<sub>2</sub>-5.5RuO<sub>2</sub> Heterostructures for Enhanced Efficiency and Stability in Acidic Oxygen Evolution.

Liao, Peisen; Zeng, Binning; Zhan, Sijia; Ruan, YunTao; Kang, Jiawei; Xiang, Runan; Li, Suisheng; Zhang, Yawei et al. · Adv Mater · 2026

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Acid water electrolysis represents a crucial technology for the sustainable production of hydrogen. However, acidic media and high oxidation potential can lead to oxidative dissolution of catalysts (e.g., RuO<sub>2</sub> → soluble RuO<sub>4</sub>), resulting in a rapid loss of active sites. Here, we present an inter-doping strategy for the construction of zirconium-ruthenium oxide heterostructure (ZrO<sub>2</sub>-xRuO<sub>2</sub>) through metal-organic framework confined effect and fused salt mixing method. Specifically, ZrO<sub>2</sub>-5.5RuO<sub>2</sub> achieves an ultralow overpotential of 137 mV at 10 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>, setting a new benchmark for oxygen evolution catalysts under acidic conditions. Its mass activity (337.5 A g<sub>Ru</sub> <sup>-1</sup>) at 250 mV overpotential is 32.3 times that of commercial RuO<sub>2</sub>. The catalyst also demonstrates long-term stability for 655 h, far superior to commercial RuO<sub>2</sub> (<6 h). The remarkable activity and stability can be attributed to the Zr─O─Ru interfacial junction, resulting in low-valence Ru sites and high-valence Zr sites. The charge redistribution optimizes the adsorption energy of reactive oxygen species and minimizes the involvement of lattice oxygen, thus leading to a significant enhancement in both activity and stability. This work provides a novel insight for addressing the activity-stability dilemma through atomic-level interface engineering, establishing a new paradigm for the large-scale application of green hydrogen energy.