Corrosion mechanism and stabilization strategies for RuO2 and IrO2 catalysts in the electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction

RuO2 and IrO2 are among the most important electrocatalyst materials for the acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in water electrolyzers. Lack of stability of the platinum group-based catalyst materials constitutes one of the biggest challenges in the large-scale green hydrogen production. This article reviews the recent progress in understanding the elementary processes and trends underlying corrosion under electrochemical OER conditions. It first discusses the debated intersection between the Lattice Oxygen Evolution and metal dissolution, then highlights new computational insight into the mechanism of how soluble metal species are formed. Finally, recent experimental examples are given, where the stabilization of RuO2-based OER catalysts has been accomplished successfully without compromising on activity.