SinoTechIntel |SinoBioData |SinoGreenTech |SinoAILab
SinoGreenTech Academic Portal
Open Access Archive
SinoGreenTech
Clean Energy & Battery Portal
Search Database
XY
Verified CAS / Academic Author2 Decoded Studies

Prof. XIAO Yu-Xuan

Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering, University of Macau

Co-Affiliations:State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology

Research Publications & English Decoded Briefs

Showing 2 publications
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3898-7

Oxygen modification optimizes hydrogen/hydroxyl binding energy and interfacial water structure for enhanced hydrogen evolution and oxidation reactions

Platinum (Pt) is the benchmark catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) in acidic electrolytes, but its performance in alkaline media is limited by excessively strong hydrogen binding energy (HBE). Here, we report oxygen-modified ultrasmall RuCu nanocrystals (RuCu/C-200) as an efficient catalyst for both alkaline HER and HOR. The RuCu/C-200 catalyst exhibits excellent HER activity with an overpotential of 9 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and a Tafel slope of 19.7 mV dec−1. For HOR, it achieves a 4.2-fold higher exchange current density than the unannealed sample. Mechanistic studies reveal that the optimized HBE, hydroxyl binding energy (OHBE), and strongly hydrogen-bonded interfacial water, induced by oxygen modification, are the intrinsic determinants of the improved catalytic activity. This work underscores the potential of combining nanoscale structural design with oxygen modification to develop high-performance Ru-based electrocatalysts for both alkaline HER and HOR.

Read Full Analysis→Download Authentic PDF
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2025•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3389-3

PtNi Nanoparticles with Rich Hydroxyl Species as Efficient Catalysts for the Electrochemical Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Seawater

Adsorption and corrosion caused by Cl− are the main reasons for the low performance of Pt-based catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in seawater. Although the introduction of hydroxyl species is an ideal approach to enhance HER kinetics and resist harmful Cl−, achieving this goal in Pt-based catalysts is challenging. In this study, we developed a high-temperature reduction process to generate PtNi alloy particles that contain Ni vacancies (Lewis acid sites) that participate in transforming lattice hydroxyls to dissociative hydroxyls on Ni layered double hydroxides (Ni-LDH). The hydroxyls in Ni-LDH bind with Lewis acid active sites to form hydroxyl rich species, a process which enhances the hydrophilicity of PtNi/Ni-LDH to promote water adsorption and enhance resistance to Cl− absorption. Owing to these properties, PtNi/Ni-LDH exhibits superior performance as an electrocatalyst for the HER in alkaline natural seawater as reflected by a low overpotential of 19 mV to drive a current density of 10 mA cm−2, a low Tafel slope of 31 mV dec−1, and an only slightly elevated overpotential after 100 h of operation. This study throws light on the development of new strategies for the design of high-performance catalysts for hydrogen production by electrolytic seawater splitting.

Read Full Analysis→Download Authentic PDF