Citation: Hangyi Zhao, Guoyu Huang, Yueshuai Wang, Haoran Deng, Zhengli Li, Jianrui Feng, Manling Sui, Yue Lu. Sacrificial-mediated sulfur confinement engineering for efficiently and stably oxygen evolution reaction[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(10): 111562. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111562 shu

Sacrificial-mediated sulfur confinement engineering for efficiently and stably oxygen evolution reaction

Hangyi Zhao ^{a, b} ,
Guoyu Huang ^{a, b, d} ,
Yueshuai Wang ^{a, b, d, *,} ,
Haoran Deng ^{a, b} ,
Zhengli Li ^{a, b} ,
Jianrui Feng ^{a, b, *,} ,
Manling Sui ^{a, b, c, *,} ,
Yue Lu ^{a, b, *,}

a.
State Key Laboratory of Materials Low-Carbon Recycling, College of Materials Science an Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
b.
Beijing Key Laboratory of Microstructure and Property of Advanced Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
c.
College of Carbon Neutrality Future Technology, Beijing University of Technology, College of Materials Science an Engineering, Beijing 100124, China
d.
Beijing Institute of Smart Energy, Beijing Huairou Laboratory, Beijing 102209, China

wangyueshuai0078@163.com

jrfeng@bjut.edu.cn

mlsui@bjut.edu.cn

luyue@bjut.edu.cn

Received Date: 14 May 2025
Revised Date: 1 July 2025
Accepted Date: 8 July 2025
Available Online: 8 July 2025

Figures(5)

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER), as the rate-determining step in water electrolysis, demands efficient non-precious catalysts to replace conventional Ru/Ir-based materials. While transition metal sulfides (TMS) show promise application prospect, but is limited by sulfur leaching-induced degradation. We address this challenge through a cyanide-mediated stabilization strategy, developing a Ni-CN/Ni₃S₂ catalyst where sacrificial C≡N groups transform into C═O moieties during OER. This structural evolution effectively suppresses sulfur leaching while enabling the formation of highly active Ni-SO₄-OH species rather than conventional NiOOH. The optimized catalyst demonstrates exceptional performance with a 209 mV overpotential at 10 mA/cm², outperforming both RuO₂ (241 mV) and pristine Ni₃S₂ (311 mV), and maintains 200 h stability at 100 mA/cm². When integrated into an anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzer, the catalyst achieves 1 A/cm² at 1.71 V with 200 h durability (35 µV/h voltage decay). Combined experimental and theoretical analyses reveal that the sulfur-anchored structure enables exceptional stability through controlled surface reconstruction and suppressed element dissolution. This work provides critical insights into designing durable, high-performance OER electrocatalysts through dynamic interface engineering.
- Surficial reconstruction,
- Oxygen evolution reaction,
- Anion exchange membrane,
- Anion adsorption,
- Transition metal sulfide
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沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院沈阳 110142