High-performance Oxygen Evolution Reaction Catalysts Research Articles

Metal vacancies and self-reconstruction of high entropy metal borates to boost the oxygen evolution reaction

Exploring highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts is important for industrial water electrolysis. Herein, a new high entropy material was reported, i.e., an amorphous high entropy metal borate (CrMnCoNiFe)0.2BOx was synthesized by a new simple solvothermal method. The key of this new synthesis method was to obtain (CrMnCoNiFe)0.2BOx with a high specific surface area (446 m2/g) and porous structure, being expected to promote OER reaction. (CrMnCoNiFe)0.2BOx provided a low overpotential of 236 mV at 10 mA cm−2, a reduced Tafel slope of 64 mV dec–1, and good stability. The outstanding OER performance of (CrMnCoNiFe)0.2BOx was attributed to the high entropy structure, generation of metal vacancies, and self-reconstruction during OER. The Cr vacancies generated during the OER process have been demonstrated by Cr 2P XPS and EPR experiments. Various in situ and Ex-situ analyses such as In situ Raman, XPS, and TEM were used to investigate the self-reconstruction of the (CrMnCoNiFe)0.2BOx during the OER. The resulting metal (oxy)hydroxide was believed to be the true active center for OER. The DFT calculation showed the high entropy structure can reduce the adsorption and conversion energy barriers of oxygen-containing intermediates, matching well with the catalytic performance results. This study provided a new simple strategy to construct high entropy metal borate (CrMnCoNiFe)0.2BOx and would inspire the design of high-performance OER catalysts.

Ti3C2 mediates the NiFe-LDH layered electrocatalyst to enhance the OER performance for water splitting

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a very complex process with slow reaction kinetics and high overpotential, which is the main limitation for the commercial application of water splitting. Thus, it is of necessary to design high-performance OER catalysts. NiFe based layered double hydroxides (NiFe-LDHs) have recently gained a lot of attention due to their high reaction activity and simple manufacturing process. In this study, a novel electrocatalyst based on NiFe-LDH was constructed by introducing Ti3C2, which was utilized to modulate the structural and electronic properties of the electrocatalysts. Structural examinations reveal that the Ti3C2 of 2D structure successfully dope the NiFe-LDHs nanosheets, forming NiFe-LDH/Ti3C2 heterojunctions. Firstly, the heterojunction substantially reduces the charge transfer resistance, promoting the electron migration between the LDH nanosheets. Secondly, theoretical calculations demonstrate that the energy barrier between the rate-determining step from *OH to *O is lowered, favoring the formation of the reaction intermediates and thus the occurrence of OER. As a result, the composite electrocatalyst exhibits a low overpotential of 334 mV at a current density of 10 mA/cm2 and a small Tafel slope of 55 mV/dec, which are superior to those of the NiFe-LDH by 11.2 % and 38.5 %, respectively. This study provides inspiration for promoting the performances of NiFe based electrocatalysts by utilizing 2D materials.

Guided Design of Efficient Oxygen Evolution Catalysts Using Patent Analysis.

The facile and rapid design of efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts holds paramount significance for energy conversion devices, such as water electrolyzers and fuel cells. Despite substantial progress in catalyst synthesis and performance exploration, the design and selection processes remain inefficient. In this context, we integrate patent analysis with catalyst design, leveraging the scholarly research functionalities within patent analyses to aid in the design and synthesis of a NiFeRu-carbon catalyst as a high-performance OER catalyst. The results demonstrate that the NiFeRu-Carbon catalyst with low Ru loading (0.3 wt %) exhibits an overpotential of only 219 mV at 10 mA cm-2 under alkaline conditions, and after continuous operation for 200 h, the overpotential only attenuates by 15 mV. The incorporation of high-valence Ru dopants elevated the intrinsic activity of individual catalytic sites within NiFe-layered double hydroxides (LDHs). During the catalytic process, the partial dissolution of Ru might lead to the generation of numerous oxygen vacancies within NiFe- LDH, thereby enhancing the catalyst's activity and stability.

Theoretical study on oxygen evolution reaction mechanism of double rare earth europium-doped graphene under hydroxyl modification in alkaline environment

The development and design of high performance OER catalyst is the key to electrocatalysis technology. Herein, based on density functional theory (DFT), the oxygen evolution reaction mechanism of double rare earth europium-doped graphene under hydroxyl modification in alkaline environment has been systematically studied. Through thermodynamic and kinetic stability analysis, and the optimal reaction path and different adsorption sites of intermediates were compared. Four catalysts with good catalytic activity for OER reaction were selected. The results show that when the two hydroxyl groups are modified, the overpotentials on the optimal pathway for the four catalyst configurations are 0.54 V, 0.50 V, 0.54 V, and 0.61 V, respectively. These catalysts demonstrate excellent catalytic activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Moreover, these catalysts have good electrical conductivity, and the active site and adsorption intermediates can be stably bonded together. In addition, the scaling relationship between oxygen adsorption free energy and overpotential is described. This work may provide new insights and guidance for future research on rare-earth atom-based OER catalysts.

Cathodized Stainless Steel Mesh for Binder-Free NiFe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub>/NiFe Layer Double Hydroxides Oxygen Evolution Reaction Electrode

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is an essential reaction commonly applied in various energy storage and conversion technologies. One of the common issues of OER lies in its low kinetic activity. Therefore, developing durable, low-cost, and high-performance OER catalysts is critical. Recently, many attempts have used stainless steel mesh (SSM) as the substrate for OER electrodes because SSM is abundant, cheap, and durable. Nickel/iron-based materials, i.e., NiFe2O4/NiFe layer double hydroxides (LDHs), are regarded as one of the most excellent OER catalysts in alkaline electrolytes, making them attractive low-cost materials for OER catalysts. However, synthesizing NiFe2O4/NiFe LDHs directly on the surface of SSM is challenging. Modifying the SSM surface through cathodization has proved to enhance the adhesion and OER activity. Moreover, the cathodization technique is facile and cost-effective. In this work, the surface of SSM is modified by cathodization treatment. Subsequently, NiFe2O4/NiFe LDHs are deposited onto the surface of treated SSM via a low-temperature one-step chemical bath deposition technique. This synthesis is a binder-free method; the resulted electrodes show excellent OER performance without the binder effects. The as-prepared electrodes have a small Tafel slope of 125.4 mV/dec (1 M KOH) and high durability (10 mA/cm2 for 50 hours).

Highly dispersed Ir/Fe nanoparticles anchored at nitrogen-doped activated pyrolytic carbon black as a high-performance OER catalyst for lead recovery.

The use of a methanesulfonic acid (MSA) electrolytic system is recommended as a green method for hydrometallurgical recovery of metallic Pb from waste lead-acid batteries (LABs), contributing to the sustainable protection of the ecosystem. Nevertheless, the system's high energy consumption is a current issue due to the substantial overpotential of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and competitive anodic oxidation of Pb2+. Herein, we propose an IrFe/nitrogen-doped pyrolytic carbon black (IrFe/NCBp) composite as a novel OER catalyst for the MSA electrolytic system, which demonstrates advanced OER catalytic efficiency and selectivity for H2O oxidation. This can be ascribed to the catalyst's thoughtful design, which enhances the number and uniformity of Ir and Fe species via increasing the specific surface area and employing NCBp as a sustainable substrate. The optimized IrFe/NCBp composite exhibits superior OER performance, with a low 252 mV@10 mA cm-2 overpotential and a 62 mV dec-1 Tafel slope, and excellent durability in a 1 M MSA electrolyte for 30 h operation compared to commercial Ir/C. In contrast to carbon paper (CP) and commercial Ir/C anodes, the anodic reaction of IrFe/NCBp is primarily OER-driven (97%) in 1 M MSA and 0.2 M Pb2+ electrolyte for Pb recovery. This effectively circumvents the high potential oxidation of Pb2+ into PbO2, reducing the electrolytic voltage to 488 kWh for the recovery of 1 ton Pb metal. This work provides a green, low-carbon footprint solution for the MSA electrolytic system, thereby promoting the commercialization of the hydrometallurgical Pb recovery.

Facile synthesis of FeNi alloy-supported N-doped Mo2C hollow nanospheres for the oxygen evolution reaction

The rapid depletion of fossil fuels results in significant environmental pollution. Consequently, researching environmentally friendly and cost-effective electrocatalysts with exceptional oxygen evolution reaction (OER) capabilities holds immense importance in enhancing the efficient utilization of resources. In this paper, a straightforward and cost-effective method was employed to produce Fe-Ni alloy-supported N-doped carbon hollow nanospheres (FeNi/Mo2C/NC) using self-assembled molybdenum dopamine spheres (Mo-PDA-HS) as a substrate. The inclusion of iron and nickel addressed the issue of aggregation and collapse in Mo-PDA-HS nanostructures at high temperatures, while adjusting the electronic structure of the composites to achieve efficient OER activity. The composite displayed a low overpotential (η10 mA = 304 mV) and a minimal Tafel slope (41.8 mV/dec-1). This study introduces a simple strategy for constructing structurally robust and non-aggregating Mo2C nanostructures, along with a direct method for designing cost-effective and high-performance catalysts for OER.

Density Functional Theory Optimization of Cobalt- and Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Catalysts for Enhanced Oxygen Evolution Reaction

The optimization and advancement of effective catalysts in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are integral to the evolution of diverse green power technologies. In this study, cobalt–nitrogen–graphene (Co-N-g) catalysts are analyzed for their OER contribution via density functional theory (DFT). The influence of vacancies and nitrogen doping on catalyst performance was probed via electronic features and related Frontier Molecular Orbitals. The research reveals that the double-vacancy nitrogen-doped catalyst (DV-N4) exhibits remarkable OER effectiveness, characterized by a notably low overpotential of 0.61 V. This is primarily attributed to enhanced metal–ligand bonding interactions, a diminished energy gap indicating augmented reactivity, and advantageous charge redistribution upon water adsorption. Additionally, nitrogen doping is found to facilitate electron loss from Co, thus promoting water oxidation and improving OER performance. This research provides crucial insights into high-performance OER catalyst design, informing future developments in efficient renewable energy devices.

Outstanding oxygen evolution reaction properties released at the interface of NiMoO4 and FeNi layer double hydroxide heterostructures

For the alkaline oxygen evolution reaction (OER), FeNi layered double hydroxide (FeNi LDH) exhibits good activity and stability. For the sake of saving freshwater, the use of abundant seawater as an electrolyte poses new requirements for its OER performance. A novel method was designed based on a corrosion reaction to convert commercial Fe foam into a high-performance OER catalyst (FeNiM), which consisted of FeNi LDH layers and NiMoO4 nanoparticles modified on its surface. FeNiM exhibited excellent OER activity, only requiring an overpotential of 250 mV to achieve a current density of 100 mA cm−2. Experimental results indicated that the heterostructures formed by NiMoO4 and FeNi LDH was conducive to exposing active sites, promoting the adsorption of active intermediates, and generating highly active oxyhydroxides. In addition, the heterostructure was beneficial to stabilizing the electrode surface structure and inhibiting seawater corrosion. Therefore, FeNiM could maintain high current density activity in both alkaline freshwater and alkaline seawater, which only required low overpotentials of 326 mV and 304 mV to achieve a high current density of 1500 mA cm−2, respectively. This catalyst preparation method has the advantages of economic efficiency, industrial compatibility, and significantly promoting the development of green hydrogen economy and industrial seawater desalination.

Interfacial electronic structure modulation enables PdAg/NiOx an advanced oxygen evolution electrocatalyst

Hydrogen production by electrolysis of water is one of the solutions to energy problems and environmental pollution. The design of efficient oxygen evolution electrocatalyst remains a challenging. One way to improve catalytic performance is to change the morphology and structure of the catalyst. Herein, a two-dimensional (2D) flake nano-flower heterostructured catalyst was designed on nickel foam (NF) substrate by simple hydrothermal and thermal annealing reactions. Benefiting from the porous nanosheet structure and synergistic effect between PdAg and NiOx, which facilitates electrolyte transport, the PdAg/NiOx nanosheets deliver a low overpotential (253 mV @ 10 mA cm−2) for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and has excellent stability. In addition, the addition of PdAg alloy regulates the electronic structure of the active component Ni, which also makes for further improving the electrocatalytic OER performance. This work not only offers a promising strategy of in situ anchoring PdAg alloy on NiOx nanosheet but also provide a new way for the application of alloy heterogeneous interfaces to high performance OER catalysts.

Interfacial Electron Regulation and Composition Evolution of NiFe/MoC Heteronanowire Arrays for Highly Stable Alkaline Seawater Oxidation.

In alkaline seawater electrolysis, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is greatly suppressed by the occurrence of electrode corrosion due to the formation of hypochlorite. Herein, a catalyst consisting of MoC nanowires modified with NiFe alloy nanoparticles (NiFe/MoC) on nickel foam (NF) is prepared. The optimized catalyst can deliver a large current density of 500 mA cm-2 at a very low overpotential of 366 mV in alkaline seawater, respectively, outperforming commercial IrO2 . Remarkably, an electrolyzer assembled with NiFe/MoC/NF as the anode and NiMoN/NF as the cathode only requires 1.77 V to drive a current density of 500 mA cm-2 for alkaline seawater electrolysis, as well as excellent stability. Theory calculation indicates that the initial activity of NiFe/MoC is attributed to increased electrical conductivity and decreased energy barrier for OER due to the introduction of Fe. We find that the change of the catalyst in the composition occurred after the stability test; however, the reconstructed catalyst has an energy barrier close to that of the pristine one, which is responsible for its excellent long-term stability. Our findings provide an efficient way to construct high-performance OER catalysts for alkaline seawater splitting.

Highly Durable and Efficient Seawater Electrolysis Enabled by Defective Graphene-Confined Nanoreactor.

Direct seawater electrolysis is a promising technology for massive green hydrogen production but is limited by the lack of durable and efficient electrocatalysts toward the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, we develop a core-shell nanoreactor as a high-performance OER catalyst consisting of NiFe alloys encapsulated within defective graphene layers (NiFe@DG) by a facile microwave shocking strategy. This catalyst needs overpotentials of merely 218 and 276 mV in alkalized seawater to deliver current densities of 10 and 100 mA cm-2, respectively, and operates continuously for 2000 h with negligible activity decay (1.0%), making it one of the best OER catalysts reported to date. Detailed experimental and theoretical analyses reveal that the excellent durability of NiFe@DG originates from the formation of the built-in electric field triggered by the defective graphene coating against chloride ions at the electrode/electrolyte interface, thus protecting the active NiFe alloys at the core from dissolution and aggregation under harsh operation conditions. Further, a highly stable and efficient seawater electrolyzer is assembled with the NiFe@DG anode and the Pt/C cathode to demonstrate the practicability of the catalysts.

Transition metal-doped V-shaped RuO2 103 nanotwins as highly active electrocatalysts for enhanced oxygen evolution in acidic media

Efficient and stable catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in acidic environments are essential for hydrogen production through electrolysis. The paper reported the transition metal-doped RuO2 103 nanotwins (RuO2 103-NTs), as cost-effective and high-performance catalysts for acidic OER. The MRu-VO defect models were constructed by introducing transition metal (Ag, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, and Zn) doped surfaces. Thereinto, the AgRu-VO doped structure exhibited remarkable OER activity in acidic conditions, achieving a reduced overpotential of 0.37 eV. Furthermore, we investigated the synergistic effect of the Ag and oxygen vacancies (VO) in conjunction with grain boundaries. Above results revealed that an increase in the content of Ag and VO resulted in a decrease in structural stability, leading to a more disordered structure. By analyzing the adsorption energy, energy band center and charge transfer in bimetallic-doped NTs, we observed that the presence of MRu-AgRu-VO (M = Mn, Co, Fe) significantly promotes the positive shift of d band center and the increase of charge transfer. This effect ultimately led to a decrease in the overpotential of the rate-determining step to 0.27 eV, thereby enhancing the intrinsic activity of RuO2.

Highly efficient oxygen evolution catalysts prepared by bacteria Desulfovibrio caledoniensis and Pseudomonas stutzeri based on Ni-Fe foam

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) has gained increasing attention among researchers due to its significance in energy conversion. However, the sluggish kinetics of the OER present notable challenges. In this work, we present an energy-efficient, cost-effective, widely applicable, and scaled-up biological preparation method to prepare OER catalytic materials with high activity and stability based on bacteria and inexpensive Ni-Fe foam under mild conditions. Anaerobic sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio caledoniensis and aerobic Pseudomonas stutzeri are the typical microorganisms and the OER performance of their products is not clear. Electrochemical measurements show that the catalyst prepared via D. caledoniensis exhibits a low overpotential of only 247 mV to achieve 10 mA cm−2 and a low Tafel slope of 46 mV dec-1, while the catalyst prepared via P. stutzeri has an overpotential and Tafel slope of 259 mV and 71 mV dec-1, respectively. Therefore, these catalysts exhibit excellent catalytic activities. Furthermore, they have a good stability of more than 40 h at 10 mA cm−2 which is far superior to that of the majority of reported NiFe-based OER catalysts. This work shows new insights into the preparation and development of high-performance OER catalysts in mild conditions.

(Digital Presentation) The Effects of Sulfur-Oxygen Ratio at the Heterogeneous Interface on Oxygen Evolution Reaction Performance of Ni3S2@Ni3Fe Catalysts for Alkaline Water Electrolysis

Alkaline water electrolysis is the important pathway for the green hydrogen generation, where oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics is limited due to the sluggish proton-coupled electron transfer in the four-electron reaction. It’s very important for the design of high-performance OER catalysts in order to improve its kinetics performance. Here, porous heterogeneous Ni3S2@Ni3Fe catalysts are prepared on nickel mesh (NM) by the electrodeposition process. Oxygen atoms are introduced into Ni3S2 by the vulcanization processes, and different S-O atom ratios are adjusted by varying vulcanization temperature. The influence of S-O ratio at heterogeneous interface on OER performance of Ni3S2@Ni3Fe is systematacially investigated. The results indicate that high S-O ratio improves the OER performance of Ni3S2-xOx@Ni3Fe, which is attributed to H2O adsorption ability enhancement on Ni3Fe surface due to the formation of unique heterogeneous electronic structure by density function theory (DFT) calculation analysis. The prepared NM/Ni3S2-xOx@Ni3Fe (vulcanization temperature at 300 oC) electrode exhibits the improved OER performance in 30 wt% KOH solutions at high current density up to 1000 mA cm-2. It provides the guidance for the design of high-performance Ni3S2-based heterogeneous catalysts by introducing oxygen atom and increasing the sulfur-oxygen ratio. Figure 1

Strain Engineering of the NiTe/Ni2P Heterostructure to Boost the Oxygen Evolution Reaction.

Discovering highly efficient and stable non-precious metal catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is crucial for energy conversion in water splitting. However, preparing high-performance OER catalysts and elucidating the structural changes in the process are still challenging. Herein, we synthesize the NiTe/Ni2P heterostructure and demonstrate the strain engineering of NiTe/Ni2P via the lattice incompatibility between the phosphide and the telluride. The strain engineering of the NiTe/Ni2P heterostructure not only significantly boosts the OER activity but also effectively stabilizes the intrinsic structure of the catalyst after the OER process by using the in situ-produced metal salt as a protection layer. After the OER stability test, no oxyhydroxide phase is observed, and in situ Raman spectroscopy reveals that a voltage-dependent phase transition appears during the OER, which is different from most previously reported Ni-based catalysts, for which the generation of irreversible NiOOH occurs after the OER. Density functional theory calculations further reveal that the tensile strain of Ni2P will inhibit the presence of irreversible phase transitions of Ni2P into NiOOH due to the weak adsorption ability of the oxygen species caused by strain engineering. In short, this work opens a new gate for using strain nanotechnology to design high-performance OER catalysts.

Electronic Structure Modulation of Fe-N4-C for Oxygen Evolution Reaction via Transition Metal Dopants and Axial Ligands.

The popular single-atom catalyst (SAC) Fe-N4 is generally believed to be an excellent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst, which is less active in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, FeM-N6 configuration catalysts (M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Ag, and Au) were constructed for the oxygen evolution reaction by embedding M dopants on Fe-N4 systems based on the density functional theory. The electronic structure analysis reveals that the Fe-M metal interactions play dominant roles in regulating the d orbital distributions of Fe sites, which in turn alter the catalytic OER performance. Subsequent thermodynamic results indicate that the potential-determining step (PDS) for all catalysts is the formation of OOH*, which exhibits a tendency of decreased overpotentials with enhanced metal interactions. Apart from these, the effects of axial ligands on the OER activity of the catalysts in practical conditions were considered. Generally, most of the axial ligands are found to be thermodynamically favorable for the OER process. Interestingly, a competitive relationship of the electrons from the d orbital of Fe sites was found between the axial ligand and the adsorbed intermediate species during the reaction, which raises the energy barrier for OH* to O* conversion and can even alter the PDS in certain cases. The present work sheds new light on the design of future high-performance OER catalysts.

One-step preparation of anti-ferromagnetic single-atom nickel to improve oxygen evolution reaction of photoelectrochemical water splitting

Noble metal single-atom catalysts (SACs) have been extensively investigated due to their unique electronic structure and high-efficiency catalytic performance. However, there are relatively few studies on the preparation of non-noble metal single atoms and their application in oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this paper, nickel single-atom catalyst was prepared using a facile one pot method. Ni-SAC-2.5% showed uniform SACs distribution and anti-ferromagnetic property as evidenced by the aberration-corrected high resolution electron microscopy and the first-principle calculations, achieving the lowest overpotential of 220 mV (10 mA/cm2) and stable performance in 1 M KOH solution. Meanwhile, it exhibited the largest specific capacitance value of 1.77 mF/cm2 and the lowest charge transfer resistance value of 40.75 Ω due to the accelerated kinetic process. First-principle calculations further confirmed the lowest computed overpotential of 0.54 eV for Ni-SAC-2.5%. However, Ni small clusters and nanoclusters with superparamagnetic performance were observed when the Ni content was further increased to 3.5% and 4.5%, resulting in higher overpotentials of 0.85 eV and 2.01 eV for OER process as indicated by the theoretical simulation. This paper provides a facile method to prepare non-noble metal SACs and useful guidance for designing high performance OER catalysts.

In Situ Synthesis of NiFeLDH/A-CBp from Pyrolytic Carbon as High-Performance Oxygen Evolution Reaction Catalyst for Water Splitting and Zinc Hydrometallurgy.

Nickel-iron-layered double hydroxide (NiFeLDH) is one of the promising catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline electrolytes, but its conductivity limits its large-scale application. The focus of current work is to explore low-cost, conductive substrates for large-scale production and combine them with NiFeLDH to improve its conductivity. In this work, purified and activated pyrolytic carbon black (CBp) is combined with NiFeLDH to form an NiFeLDH/A-CBp catalyst for OER. CBp not only improves the conductivity of the catalyst but also greatly reduces the size of NiFeLDH nanosheets to increase the activated surface area. In addition, ascorbic acid (AA) is introduced to enhance the coupling between NiFeLDH and A-CBp, which can be evidenced by the increase of Fe-O-Ni peak intensity in FTIR measurement. Thus, a lower overvoltage of 227 mV and larger active surface area of 43.26 mF·cm-2 are achieved in 1 M KOH solution for NiFeLDH/A-CBp. In addition, NiFeLDH/A-CBp shows good catalytic performance and stability as the anode catalyst for water splitting and Zn electrowinning in alkaline electrolytes. In Zn electrowinning with NiFeLDH/A-CBp, the low cell voltage of 2.08 V at 1000 A·m-2 results in lower energy consumption of 1.78 kW h/KgZn, which is nearly half of the 3.40 kW h/KgZn of industrial electrowinning. This work demonstrates the new application of high-value-added CBp in hydrogen production from electrolytic water and zinc hydrometallurgy to realize the recycling of waste carbon resources and reduce the consumption of fossil resources.

Trace Lattice S Inserted RuO2 Flexible Nanosheets for Efficient and Long-Term Acidic Oxygen Evolution Catalysis.

Pursuing highly active and long-term stable ruthenium (Ru) based oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst for water electrolysis under acidic conditions is of great significance yet a tremendous challenge to date. To solve the problem of serious Ru corrosion in an acid medium, the trace lattice sulfur (S) inserted RuO2 catalyst is prepared. The optimized catalyst (Ru/S NSs-400) has shown a record stability of 600 h for the solely containing Ru (iridium-free) nanomaterials. In the practical proton exchange membrane device, the Ru/S NSs-400 can even sustain more than 300 h without obvious decay at the high current density of 250mA cm-2 . The detailed investigations reveal that S doping not only changes the electronic structure of Ru via forming RuS coordination for high adsorption of reaction intermediates but also stabilizes Ru from over-oxidation. This strategy is also effective for improving the stability of commercial Ru/C and homemade Ru-based nanoparticles. This work offers a highly effective strategy to design high-performance OER catalysts for water splitting and beyond.