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Open Access Research Article Issue
IrxRu1−xO2/WO3 heterostructure for efficient acidic oxygen evolution reaction
Nano Research 2026, 19(8): 94908622
Published: 01 July 2026
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Achieving simultaneous activity and durability for acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) remains a central challenge; interfacial heterostructuring offers a route to stabilize Ru while exploiting its high intrinsic activity. Here we report a heterostructured nanosheet catalyst IrxRu1−xO2/WO3 that leverages interface-driven electronic and geometric modulation to boost OER performance. Density functional theory calculations indicate that interfacial modulation steers the OER toward the oxide pathway mechanism (OPM), effectively lowering the energy barrier of the potential-determining step. In electrochemical tests, the catalyst delivers an overpotential of 223 mV at 10 mA·cm−2 under acidic conditions and maintains an essentially constant potential over 120 h of continuous chronopotentiometry. An OER–oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) coupled electrochemical oxygen generator (EOG) single cell was constructed to evaluate the catalyst’s performance, demonstrating a current density of 664 mA·cm−2 at 1.2 V and an oxygen production rate of 126 mL·min−1. The IrxRu1−xO2/WO3 exhibits good stability during 320 h of continuous operation, with a current decay of less than 3%, which is significantly lower than that of the commercial IrO2 (current decay of ~ 15%). These results establish interfacial heterostructuring as a practical route to combine high activity with long-term durability in acidic OER, enabling efficient, robust electrochemical oxygen generation.

Open Access Research Article Issue
Highly portable electrochemical oxygen removal device for microenvironmental low-oxygen control
Nano Research 2025, 18(2): 94907179
Published: 15 January 2025
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Low-oxygen (O2) environments are essential in various research and application fields, yet traditional methods like nitrogen flushing or chemical O2 absorbers face challenges in high equipment cost and low controllability. This study introduces a novel electrochemical oxygen removal (EOR) controller, offering a lightweight, low-cost, and precise low-O2 control solution. The self-powered EOR controller uses a sacrificial anode to drive the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), efficiently consuming environmental O2 to reduce its level, thus eliminating the requirements of external gas or power sources. By integrating a single-atom ORR catalyst and flexible design, the device achieves a substantial reduction in weight and cost. The incorporation of electronic components for the EOR controller, including a switch for reaching targeted O2 concentration and a fixed resistor for O2 removal rate regulation, enables multi-dimensional O2 removal control. The system also realizes the O2 concentration estimation in real-time with ±1% accuracy (within the 21%–1% range) by calculating electron transfers. The EOR controller’s effectiveness is validated in plant hypoxia stress experiments, demonstrating precise O2 level adjustments and its potential across various applications requiring controlled hypoxic conditions.

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