Surface Tip Effects Enhanced Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzers

作者：Bingqian Pang, Yun Liu, Lutong Shan, Wen‐Juan Shi, Hui Chen, Suyang Feng, Peng Rao, Jing Li, Tianjiao Wang, Xiaodong Shi, Xue Bai, Gaoqiang Yang, Xinlong Tian, Zhenye Kang · 发表于：Nano Letters · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c02984 · 被引用次数：7 · 研究领域：Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion、Fuel Cells and Related Materials、Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems

IrO 2 is widely used as a benchmarking anode catalyst in a proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE) but suffers from insufficient activity. We report an urchin-like IrRuO x catalyst synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal method, which exhibits impressive oxygen evolution reaction activity and stability. In a PEMWE device, it achieves a current density of 6.4 A cm –2 at 2 V with an Ir loading of only 0.2 mg cm –2 . Notably, the catalyst also exhibits exceptional stability, operating over 1000 h at 1.0 A cm –2 . Dynamic testing between 0.1 and 3.0 A cm –2 further demonstrates its superior stability. This outstanding performance is primarily attributed to the unique tip effect of the urchin-like structure, enhancing areal current density and improving kinetics. This work advances the concept of catalyst surface morphology design and construction, demonstrating a practical advantage of morphology-driven enhancements, which is a feasible strategy for PEMWE to industrial applications.