arXiv abstract link

Ruthenium oxides are promising low-cost anodes for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis but suffer from poor acidic stability. By eliminating non-bonding oxygen states and using oxygen charge as a descriptor, we show that Tb-B-RuO2 achieves high activity and 3,200-h durability in the test of the device, thereby offering a route toward scalable hydrogen production.

arXiv abstract link

arXiv abstract link

Single-layer 1T-RuO2 with an edge-sharing structure enables efficient electron transport and delivers ultralow overpotential, high activity and long-term stability for acidic water electrolysis in a p...

Nature Nanotechnology, Published online: 01 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41565-026-02255-5Single-layer 1T-RuO2 with an edge-sharing structure enables efficient electron transport and delivers ultralow overpotential, high activity and long-term stability for acidic water electrolysis in a proton-exchange membrane water electrolyser.

Publication date: Available online 24 August 2026 Source: Environmental Functional Materials Author(s): Hira Ilyas, Roopali Tandon, Elvy Rena Braganca, Sudha Tomar, D.S. Raghav

Constructing atomically coupled W–O–Ru interfacial units on RuO2 triggers a dynamic strain evolution during the oxygen evolution reaction. An initial tensile strain secures structural stability, while a self-adjusting transition to interfacial compression optimizes catalytic activity. This dynamic strain engineering effectively decouples the long-standing activity-stability trade-off, enabling highly efficient and durable acidic water oxidation. ABSTRACT Developing highly active and durable acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts remains a central challenge for proton-exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE). Here, we combine theory-guided design, atomic-layer engineering, and operando spectroscopy to create a structurally robust, mechanistically tuned Ru-based catalyst. Density functional theory reveals that depositing W1O3 onto RuO2 maximizes Ru and O vacancy formation energies, outperforming other tested transition metals. Guided by this, we employ atomic layer deposition to construct atomically coupled W–O–Ru interfacial units on RuO2 (W–O–RuO2), generating a tensile-stressed surface while preserving the rutile core. Comprehensive in situ spectroscopy and mass spectrometry demonstrate that this architecture effectively suppresses lattice–oxygen activation, shifting the reaction from a lattice–oxygen mechanism to a more reversible adsorbate evolution mechanism. Operando x-ray absorption spectroscopy confirms the dynamic stability of the W–O–Ru interface during OER, which evolves into a resilient, mildly compressive (1%) state without degrading. Consequently, W–O–RuO2 demands a mere 168 mV overpotential at 10 mA cm− 2 and sustains 1 A cm− 2 in a PEMWE device for 1000 h with an ultra-low degradation rate of 63.3 µV/h. This work establishes interfacial unit engineering as a generalizable blueprint for designing exceptionally stable acidic OER catalysts.

We initiated our study by investigating the Cl-UOR performance in a three-electrode system. RuO2 and Pt/C were respectively selected as catalysts because they are widely used benchmarks and are known to be highly active for the Cl2 evolution reaction (ClER)26. As shown in Fig. 2a and Supplementary Fig. 1, the cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry scans for these catalysts in 1 M NaCl show that the current increases markedly beyond 1.05 V versus Ag/AgCl (denoted as VAg/AgCl) with a distinct Cl2 reduction peak appearing at 1.05 VAg/AgCl, demonstrating the strong ClER activity of these catalysts. However, upon introducing 0.33 M urea into the 1 M NaCl solution, the CV curves of these catalysts exhibit substantial changes. Specifically, the Cl2 reduction peak in the negative scan completely disappears, suggesting that urea addition effectively suppresses the original ClER by triggering Cl-UOR. In contrast to the current decline observed on RuO2, Pt/C exhibits a notable current enhancement upon the addition of urea, indicating that Cl-UOR is facilitated on the Pt surface. Moreover, during the negative scan, Pt/C shows an increased reductive current at potentials below 0.9 VAg/AgCl, which is not observed on RuO2. Consistently, a pronounced ring current was detected at...

YouTube video by Endre Nyirő

YouTube video by あつ森劇場 未来テレビ

Ruthenium dioxide (RuO2) is a metal oxide that commonly serves as an important metallic conductor, quantum material and industrial electrocatalyst. While there have been debates surrounding the magnet...

Rutile OsO2, isostructural to RuO2, has been theoretically predicted to host altermagnetism, yet experimental studies remain scarce. Zhao et al. report the successful growth of rutile OsO2 single crystals and show that OsO2 remains paramagnetic at ambient conditions while lying near the paramagnetic-altermagnetic phase boundary. High-pressure electrical transport measurements combined with hybrid functional calculations reveal that pressure enhances the Coulomb interaction U, driving altermagnetic phase evolution together with a metal-insulator transition.

Rhodamine B, a widely used xanthene dye, undergoes sequential degradation via bond cleavage reactions, producing low-molecular-weight fragments. Initial C–N bond scission forms intermediates (m/z 407...