RuO2 clusters derived from bulk SrRuO3: Robust catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction in acid
Muwei Ji, Xin Yang, Shengding Chang, Wenxing Chen, Jin Wang, Dongsheng He, Yao Hu, Qian Deng, You Sun, Bo Li, Jingyu Xi, Tomoaki Yamada, Jiatao Zhang, Hai Xiao, Caizhen Zhu, Jia Li, Yadong Li
Abstract
Developing highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst for the acidic corrosive operating conditions is a challenging task. Herein, we report the synthesis of uniform RuO2 clusters with ∼ 2 nm in size via electrochemical leaching of Sr from SrRuO3 ceramic in acid. The RuO2 clusters exhibit ultrahigh OER activity with overpotential of ∼ 160 mV at 10 mA·cmgeo−2 in 1.0 M HClO4 solution for 30-h testing. The extended X-ray absorption fine structure measurement reveals enlarged Jahn-Teller distortion of RuO octahedra in the RuO2 clusters compared to its bulk counterpart. Density function theory calculations show that the enhanced Jahn-Teller distortion can improve the intrinsic OER activity of RuO2.