Ru Single Atoms Integrated into Cobalt Oxide Spinel Structure with Interstitial Carbon for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation

Abstract

Abstract Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays a critical role in energy conversion technologies. Significant progress has been made in alkaline conditions. In contrast, it remains a challenge to develop stable OER electrocatalysts in acidic conditions. Herein, a new strategy is reported to stabilize single atoms integrated into cobalt oxide spinel structure with interstitial carbon (Ru 0.27 Co 2.73 O 4 ), where the optimized Ru 0.27 Co 2.73 O 4 exhibits a low overpotential of 265, 326, and 367 mV to reach a current density of 10, 50, and 100 mA cm 2 , respectively. More importantly, Ru 0.27 Co 2.73 O 4 has long‐term stability of up to 100 h, representing one of the most stable OER electrocatalysts. X‐ray adsorption spectroscopy (XAS) characterization and density functional theory (DFT) calculations jointly demonstrate that the significant catalytic performance of Ru 0.27 Co 2.73 O 4 is due to the synergistic effect between the Ru and Co sites and the bridging O ligands, as well as the significant reduction of the OER energy barrier. This work provides a new perspective for designing and constructing efficient non‐noble metal‐based electrocatalysts for water splitting.