Alleviating OH Blockage on the Catalyst Surface by the Puncture Effect of Single-Atom Sites to Boost Alkaline Water Electrolysis

Nonprecious transition metal catalysts have emerged as the preferred choice for industrial alkaline water electrolysis due to their cost-effectiveness. However, their overstrong binding energy to adsorbed OH often results in the blockage of active sites, particularly in the cathodic hydrogen evolution reaction. Herein, we found that single-atom sites exhibit a puncture effect to effectively alleviate OH blockades, thereby significantly enhancing the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance. Typically, after anchoring single Ru atoms onto tungsten carbides, the overpotential at 10 mA·cm–2 is reduced by more than 130 mV (159 vs 21 mV). Also, the mass activity is increased 16-fold over commercial…

• KT
  Key Technologies Research and Development Program of Anhui Province

  Awards: 2023z04020010, 2022a05020053
• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 92261105, U23A2081, 22201271, 22221003
• UO
  University of Science and Technology of China

  Award: YD2060002029
• NS
  National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory

  Award: KY2060000180
• NS
  Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province

  Awards: 2108085UD06, 2208085UD04
• NK
  National Key Research and Development Program of China

  Award: 2022YFB4002001