Rational design of RuO2 composites from hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks for alkaline oxygen evolution reaction

In the past few decades, the task of creating electrocatalysts with consistent costs for facilitating oxygen evolution reactions with minimal overpotential remains a formidable challenge in the realm of chemical energy conversion technologies. In this report, we present a straightforward approach for synthesizing the melamine trithiocynauric acid (MTC) and ruthenium dioxide (RuO₂) based, MTC/RuO₂ composite, which demonstrates high efficiency in catalyzing oxygen evolution reaction. The physical characterizations for the prepared material are x-ray diffraction (XRD)， scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and x-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS) all approve the presence of RuO₂ in the MTC composite structure. For oxygen evolution reaction the composite (MTC/RuO₂-0.2) exhibited an exceptionally low overpotential of 190 mV for the current density of 10 mA cm⁻² and also demonstrated a Tafel slope of 52 mV dec⁻¹. Significant improvement in electrocatalytic activity is observed in alkaline electrolyte (1 M KOH). The outstanding behavior of the catalyst is due to the structural synergistic effect between MTC and RuO₂. So far there is no report on RuO₂-based hydrogen bonded organic frameworks for oxygen evolution reaction. The catalyst also shows high stability for almost 24 h. Hence, the MTC/RuO₂-0.2 composite is highly unique and efficient.