journal article·2026-06Open access

Engineering interfacial water networks via oxygenophilic Ru sites on NiCo alloy for efficient anion exchange membrane water electrolysis

Shuhui Fan, Rui Yao, Youyang Qu, Junxuan Yao, Yuhan Sun, Jinping Li, Guang Liu

Abstract

: Regulating interfacial water structure and disrupting its original hydrogen bond network is crucial for achieving efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under industrial current densities. Herein, we report a catalyst fabricated by anchoring oxygenophilic Ru nanoparticles onto a magnetron-sputtered NiCo alloy (Ru/NiCo, Ru loading of only 2.35 wt%). This paper reveals that the combined effect of Ru and NiCo enhances OH* adsorption and promotes the transformation from tetrahedral coordinated hydrogen bond water to mobile Free-H 2 O, accelerates the dynamic rearrangement of interface water, reduces intramolecular hydrogen bonds. The Ru/NiCo requires 15 mV and 234 mV to reach –10 and –1000 mA cm −2 , respectively. In a practical anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer (AEMWE), the NiFeO x ||Ru/NiCo can operate stably at 1 A cm −2 for 1000 h (degradation rate of 9.96 μV h −1 ). This work provides fundamental insight into designing efficient catalysts for industrial hydrogen production by engineering the interfacial aqueous environment through the interaction of oxygenophilic site with the alloy.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion · Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction · Membrane-based Ion Separation Techniques

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

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