Pinning effect of lattice Pb suppressing lattice oxygen reactivity of Pb-RuO2 enables stable industrial-level electrolysis

Ruthenium (Ru) is widely recognized as a low-cost alternative to iridium as anode electrocatalyst in proton-exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWE). However, the reported Ru-based catalysts usually only operate within tens of hours in PEMWE because of their intrinsically high reactivity of lattice oxygen that leads to irrepressible Ru leaching and structural collapse. Herein, we report a design concept by employing large-sized and acid-resistant lattice lead (Pb) as a second element to induce a pinning effect for effectively narrowing the moving channels of oxygen atoms, thereby lowering the reactivity of lattice oxygen in Ru oxides. The Pb-RuO2 catalyst presents a low overpotential of 188 ± 2 mV at 10…

• SS
  Salt Science Research Foundation

  Awards: BL14W1, BL11B
• T
  Tencent
• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 22102003, BL11B, 52333010, 52025133
• CP
  China Postdoctoral Science Foundation

  Award: 2023M730051
• CN
  China National Petroleum Corporation

  Award: 2021DQ02-1002
• PU
  Peking University

  Award: 2021DQ02-1002
• BS
  Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility

  Award: BL14W1