NiO as a Bifunctional Promoter for RuO2 toward Superior Overall Water Splitting

Abstract Conventional development of nanomaterials for efficient electrocatalysis is largely based on performance‐oriented trial‐and‐error/iterative approaches, while a rational design approach at the atomic/molecular level is yet to be found. Here, inspired by a fundamental understanding of the mechanism for both oxygen and hydrogen evolution half reactions (OER/HER), a unique strategy is presented to engineer RuO 2 for superior alkaline water electrolysis through coupling with NiO as an efficient bifunctional promoter. Benefitting from desired potential‐induced interfacial synergies, NiO‐derived NiOOH improves the oxygen binding energy of RuO 2 for enhanced OER, and NiO also promotes water dissociation for enhanced HER on RuO 2 ‐derived Ru. The resulting hybrid material exhibits remarkable bifunctional activities, affording 2.6 times higher OER activity than that of RuO 2 and an HER activity comparable to Pt/C. As a result, the simple system requires only 1.5 V to deliver 10 mA cm −2 for overall alkaline water splitting, outperforming the benchmark PtC/NF||IrO 2 /NF couple with high mass loading. Comprehensive electrochemical investigation reveals the unique and critical role of NiO on the optimized RuO 2 /NiO interface for synergistically enhanced activities, which may be extended to broader (electro)catalytic systems.