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Vol. 18 (2026)

Crystal Phase Engineering Accelerates Hydrogen Reverse Spillover for Efficient Alkaline Hydrogen Production

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-026-02289-3
Jun Zhang
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Green Preparation and Functionalization for Inorganic Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, People’s Republic of China
Xiaoyu Chen
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Normal University, Harbin 150025, People’s Republic of China
Bin Wu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Xiangyang Guo
State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Dalian 116023, People’s Republic of China
Xianlin Qu
Center for Microscopy and Analysis, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, People’s Republic of China
Qunzhi Ma
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Green Preparation and Functionalization for Inorganic Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, People’s Republic of China
Ying Wang
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Green Preparation and Functionalization for Inorganic Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, People’s Republic of China
Jiayi Li
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Green Preparation and Functionalization for Inorganic Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, People’s Republic of China
Wei Liu
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Green Preparation and Functionalization for Inorganic Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, People’s Republic of China
Xu Li
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Green Preparation and Functionalization for Inorganic Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, People’s Republic of China
Liyun Cao
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Green Preparation and Functionalization for Inorganic Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, People’s Republic of China
Yi Wang
Center for Microscopy and Analysis, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, People’s Republic of China
Jianfeng Huang
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Green Preparation and Functionalization for Inorganic Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, People’s Republic of China
Jingxiang Zhao
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Normal University, Harbin 150025, People’s Republic of China
Fuxiang Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Dalian 116023, People’s Republic of China
Yongqiang Feng
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Green Preparation and Functionalization for Inorganic Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Yongqiang Feng

fengyq@sust.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 18 (2026), Article Number: 438

Abstract

Phase engineering has proved effective in enhancing electrocatalytic performance by precisely controlling crystal structures. While significant efforts have been dedicated to phase regulation of active metals, the role of crystal phase of catalyst supports in steering the hydrogen migration during hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) remains underexplored. This work systematically investigates zirconium dioxide in its monoclinic (m-ZrO2) and tetragonal (t-ZrO2) phases as supports for Ru nanoclusters. A combination of spectroscopy and theoretical calculation demonstrates strong electronic metal–support interactions and work function difference between Ru and m-ZrO2 lead to interfacial charge accumulation, accelerated water dissociation, and reverse hydrogen spillover, significantly enhancing electrocatalytic HER performance in alkaline medium. The Ru@m-ZrO2/C catalyst exhibits excellent HER activity in different electrolytes. It achieves 10 mA cm−2 with an extremely low overpotential (η10) of only 28 mV in 1 M KOH, delivering a mass activity of 2.72 A mgRu−1 (at 50 mV overpotential), which is 45 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C. The η10 values are 56, 42, and 30 mV in 0.5 M H2SO4, 1 M KOH + 2 M NaCl, and 1 M KOH + simulated seawater, respectively. Furthermore, the catalyst also demonstrates excellent stability under alkaline simulated seawater electrolysis conditions. When integrated into an anion-exchange membrane water electrolyzer, it achieves 1.0 A cm−2 at 1.76 V with stability exceeding 300 h. This work underscores the pivotal importance of support phase engineering for designing high-performance electrocatalysts for water splitting.


Highlights:
1 Phase engineering of ZrO2 regulates the electronic metal–support interactions and work function difference between Ru and ZrO2, resulting in reverse hydrogen spillover, therefore enhancing electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline medium.
2 The Ru@m-ZrO2/C catalyst demonstrated a low overpotential and high mass activity (45 times that of commercial 20% Pt/C), and when integrated into an anion-exchange membrane water electrolyzer, it exhibited stable operation for over 300 hours.

Keywords

Phase engineering Zirconium dioxide Electrocatalyst Hydrogen production Seawater electrolysis
Zhang, Jun, Xiaoyu Chen, Bin Wu, Xiangyang Guo, Xianlin Qu, Qunzhi Ma, Ying Wang, Jiayi Li, Wei Liu, Xu Li, Liyun Cao, Yi Wang, Jianfeng Huang, Jingxiang Zhao, Fuxiang Zhang, and Yongqiang Feng. 2026. “Crystal Phase Engineering Accelerates Hydrogen Reverse Spillover for Efficient Alkaline Hydrogen Production”. Nano-Micro Letters 18 (July):438. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-026-02289-3.
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