Enhancing catalytic durability in alkaline oxygen evolution reaction through squaric acid anion intercalation

The corrosive acidic interfacial microenvironment caused by rapid multi-step deprotonation of alkaline oxygen evolution reaction in industrial high current water electrolysis is one of the key problems limiting its stability. Some functional anions derived from electrocatalysis exhibit special functionalities in modulating the interface microenvironment, but this matter has not received adequate attention in academic discussions. Here we show that the coordinate squaric acid undergoes a dissolve-re-intercalation process in alkaline oxygen evolution, leading to its stabilization within the Fe-doped NiOOH interlayer in the form of the squaric acid anions (NiFe-SQ/NF-R). These intercalated squaric acid anions…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 52274308, 52174283
• CU
  China University of Petroleum, Beijing
• FR
  Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities