Lewis Acid-Mediated Interfacial Water Supply for Sustainable Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis

The catalyst-electrolyte interface plays a crucial role in proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE). However, optimizing the interfacial hydrogen bonding to enhance both catalytic activity and stability remains a significant challenge. Here, a novel catalyst design strategy is proposed based on the hard-soft acid-base principle, employing hard Lewis acids (LAs = ZrO