Synergistic niobium and manganese co-doping into RuO2 nanocrystal enables PEM water splitting under high current

Low-cost ruthenium-based catalysts with high activity have emerged as promising alternatives to iridium-based counterparts for acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWE), but the poor stability under high current density remains as a key challenge. Here, we utilize the synergistic complementary strategy of introducing earth-abundant Mn and Nb dopants in ruthenium dioxide (RuO2) for Nb0.1Mn0.1Ru0.8O2 nanoparticle electrocatalyst that exhibits a low overpotential of 209 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and good stability of > 400 h at 0.2 A cm−2 in 0.5 M H2SO4. Significantly, a PEMWE device fabricated with Nb0.1Mn0.1Ru0.8O2 anode can operate continuously at least for 1000 h at…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 2022YFA1504000, 2023QNRC001, 22479005, 22179029
• FR
  Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities

  Award: buctrc202324