Temperature dependent mechanism transition effect stabilized ruthenium-based oxides for water oxidation in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer

Temperature dependent mechanism transition effect stabilized ruthenium-based oxides for water oxidation in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Temperature dependent mechanism transition effect stabilized ruthenium-based oxides for water oxidation in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer Shu-Hong Yu, Ming-Rong Qu, Rui Wu, Heng Liu, Sihua Feng, Sheng Zhu, and 7 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4097038/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 20 Oct, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Oxygen evolution reaction (OER), as the anodic reaction of many electrochemical devices, plays a crucial role in such energy conversion process. However, the poor OER stability of non-iridium-based materials has tremendously limited the large-scale application of related devices. Here, using a novel home-made operando differential electrochemical mass spectroscopy, for the first time we report a temperature dependent mechanism transition (TDMT) effect of RhRu3Ox, a non-iridium-based electrocatalyst, in OER process, which makes us realize the important role of temperature in triggering OER mechanism transition, and further enriches our toolbox for manipulating OER kinetics. To evaluate the potential of RhRu3Ox for practical applications, we assembled it as an anode in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer, demonstrating its stability at room temperature for over 1000 hours at 200 mA cm-2 compared with the unstable pristine RuO2. Techno-economic analysis shows that the cost of H2 production using solar photovoltaic and onshore wind as power sources is already lower than the global average levelized cost of H2 from coal. Density functional theory studies reveal that the existence of kinetic barrier related to lattice oxygen activation might be the reason for the OER TDMT of RhRu3Ox at elevated temperature. Physical sciences/Materials science/Materials for energy and catalysis/Electrocatalysis Physical sciences/Chemistry/Electrochemistry/Electrocatalysis Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformation.docx Supplementary Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 20 Oct, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4097038","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":424257429,"identity":"cf74cb99-fe3d-4366-bc92-f44863cc2e56","order_by":0,"name":"Shu-Hong Yu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAt0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCSD+gMQmTgvjDKhq4rUw85CkRX52j5m0bVtdHX8D88HbPAx2eQS1GNw5Yyad23ZYQuIAW7I1D0NyMWEtEjkgLQckDBh4zKR5GA4kNhB02AygFsu2OqAW/m/EaWG4AdTC2MYMsoWNOC0GN9KKLXvOHZaccZjN2HKOQTIxDkveeONHWR0/f3vzwxtvKuyIcBgDhwGEZgZbSlg9ELA/IErZKBgFo2AUjGAAAMVbMW2HitspAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3732-1011","institution":"University of Science and Technology of China","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shu-Hong","middleName":"","lastName":"Yu","suffix":""},{"id":424257430,"identity":"9ed08631-5330-4f42-8087-a0503caee64f","order_by":1,"name":"Ming-Rong Qu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Science and Technology of China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ming-Rong","middleName":"","lastName":"Qu","suffix":""},{"id":424257431,"identity":"582b5755-cdda-4c8d-a04a-8727e2c822aa","order_by":2,"name":"Rui Wu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Science and Technology of China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rui","middleName":"","lastName":"Wu","suffix":""},{"id":424257432,"identity":"2e1a2d0a-f910-46c0-9ce4-89e2cf104e8d","order_by":3,"name":"Heng Liu","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7272-3908","institution":"Tohoku University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Heng","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""},{"id":424257433,"identity":"f4f2c77e-3509-4374-84b6-89fc23c5448e","order_by":4,"name":"Sihua Feng","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Science and Technology of China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sihua","middleName":"","lastName":"Feng","suffix":""},{"id":424257434,"identity":"72be47be-9f66-4a0e-8e94-3e5876497b9c","order_by":5,"name":"Sheng Zhu","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2301-7601","institution":"Shanghai University of Electric Power","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sheng","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhu","suffix":""},{"id":424257435,"identity":"d0374f40-bf19-4f61-90de-b0092271963e","order_by":6,"name":"Jie Xu","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4506-9701","institution":"Wenzhou University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jie","middleName":"","lastName":"Xu","suffix":""},{"id":424257436,"identity":"8a8e6288-7d18-4016-96a0-af45bff9f738","order_by":7,"name":"Heng-Li Duan","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4235-1450","institution":"University of Science and Technology of China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Heng-Li","middleName":"","lastName":"Duan","suffix":""},{"id":424257437,"identity":"28085c19-9e5b-42b6-b68a-751edcace3bf","order_by":8,"name":"Ruiqi Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230029, P. 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