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Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Nature Communications

Interface-induced tensile strain stabilizes ruthenium oxide for high-performance acidic water oxidation

  • Wenxiang Zhu1,2
  • Mengjie Ma1
  • Qintao Sun1
  • Fan Liao1
  • Jie Wu1,2
  • Xinyu Che1
  • Kun Feng1
  • Zhongshan Yang1,3
  • Hui Huang1
  • Jun Zhong1
  • Tao Cheng1
  • Yang Liu1
3 more authors
  • Mingwang Shao1
  • Zhenhui Kang1,3
  • Meng Ni2
  1. 1State Key Laboratory of Bioinspired Interfacial Materials Science, Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu China
  2. 2Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering, Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD) and Research Institute for Smart Energy (RISE), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
  3. 3Sino-Luso Joint Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Macao Institute of Materials Science and Engineering (MIMSE), MUST-SUDA Joint Research Center for Advanced Functional Materials, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macao China
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Abstract

Developing ruthenium-based catalysts that combine high activity with long-term stability in acid is important for reducing reliance on iridium in proton-exchange membrane water electrolyzer. Here we show that coupling carbon dots with ruthenium oxide creates a strongly connected interface that anchors ruthenium sites and improves charge transport. The optimized two-dimensional ruthenium oxide-carbon catalyst, with the low Ru loading (25.8 μgRu cm−2), achieves a low overpotential of 140 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and operates stably for > 1900 hours. In a proton-exchange membrane device, it delivers 3 A cm−2 at 1.833 V, and remains stable for more than 800 hours at 1.43 V. In-situ characterizations, transient photoinduced voltage and theoretical calculations reveal that interfacial coupling and tensile strain suppress overoxidation and reduce the Gibbs free-energy barrier of the oxygen evolution reaction. This work establishes carbon dots-enabled interfacial strain engineering as a promising approach for low-ruthenium, efficient, and durable water electrolyzers across a wide power range.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{zhu2026interfaceinduced,
  title = {{Interface-induced tensile strain stabilizes ruthenium oxide for high-performance acidic water oxidation}},
  author = {Wenxiang Zhu and Mengjie Ma and Qintao Sun and Fan Liao and Jie Wu and Xinyu Che and Kun Feng and Zhongshan Yang and Hui Huang and Jun Zhong and Tao Cheng and Yang Liu and Mingwang Shao and Zhenhui Kang and Meng Ni},
  journal = {Nature Communications},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-77521-0},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77521-0},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Interface-induced tensile strain stabilizes ruthenium oxide for high-performance acidic water oxidation
AU  - Wenxiang Zhu
AU  - Mengjie Ma
AU  - Qintao Sun
AU  - Fan Liao
AU  - Jie Wu
AU  - Xinyu Che
AU  - Kun Feng
AU  - Zhongshan Yang
AU  - Hui Huang
AU  - Jun Zhong
AU  - Tao Cheng
AU  - Yang Liu
AU  - Mingwang Shao
AU  - Zhenhui Kang
AU  - Meng Ni
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/08
JO  - Nature Communications
DO  - 10.1038/s41467-026-77521-0
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77521-0
AB  - Developing ruthenium-based catalysts that combine high activity with long-term stability in acid is important for reducing reliance on iridium in proton-exchange membrane water electrolyzer. Here we show that coupling carbon dots with ruthenium oxide creates a strongly connected interface that anchors ruthenium sites and improves charge transport. The optimized two-dimensional ruthenium oxide-carbon catalyst, with the low Ru loading (25.8 μgRu cm−2), achieves a low overpotential of 140 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and operates stably for > 1900 hours. In a proton-exchange membrane device, it delivers 3 A cm−2 at 1.833 V, and remains stable for more than 800 hours at 1.43 V. In-situ characterizations, transient photoinduced voltage and theoretical calculations reveal that interfacial coupling and tensile strain suppress overoxidation and reduce the Gibbs free-energy barrier of the oxygen evolution reaction. This work establishes carbon dots-enabled interfacial strain engineering as a promising approach for low-ruthenium, efficient, and durable water electrolyzers across a wide power range.
SN  - 2041-1723
ER  -