Atomic oxophilic yttrium-interspersed ruthenium clusters confined by nitrogen-doped hollow MXene trigger advanced water electrolysis performance

Electrochemical water splitting has been demonstrated as a promising approach for producing green hydrogen. Unfortunately, its practical applications remain challenging due to the unfavorable water dissociation and insufficient proton supply in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under alkaline conditions. Herein, we design a novel electrocatalyst for active HER catalyst consisting of Ru nanoclusters and oxophilic Y atoms simultaneously anchoring into hollow N-doped Ti₃C₂ MXene framework (Ru-Y@N-Ti₃C₂). Notably, Ru-Y@N-Ti₃C₂ delivers outstanding HER performance in 1.0 M KOH and 0.5 M H₂SO₄ by achieving 10 mA cm⁻² at small overpotentials of 43.0 and 52.7 mV, respectively, with remarkable mass activities of 1.0 and 0.57 A mg_Ru⁻¹ at 0.15 V. An anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer (AEMWE) single-cell working at 60 °C in 1.0 M KOH could deliver a high industrial-level current density of 0.5/1.0 A cm⁻² at 1.91/2.06 V and maintain a durability over 700 h with negligible degradation of ∼40 mV at 0.5 A cm⁻². Experimental and theoretical results reveal that oxophilic Y metal centers facilitate water adsorption and dissociation, while adjacent Ru sites capture and release the resulting hydrogen-adsorption intermediates, therefore significantly enhancing HER kinetics. This work presents a novel catalyst-design strategy and mechanistic insights to enhance its efficiency for hydrogen production.