image: In HNBs-VO(LRO)-S, the pristine surface-trapped state oxygen vacancies trap sulfur atoms for Fe–S coordination, which both stabilizes the ordered oxygen vacancy structure of HNBs-VO(LRO)-S and also the S atoms can serve as the active site Ⅰ. In addition, the retained ordered oxygen vacancy structure can serve as a channel for the directional transport of charge and as active site II. Therefore, the introduction of an appropriate amount of sulfur atoms in HNBs-VO(LRO)-S can effectively regulate the electronic structure of the catalyst and synergistically promote the HER/OER catalytic reaction on the surface of HNBs-VO(LRO)-S efficiently with the ordered oxygen vacancies.
Credit: Journal of Advanced Ceramics, Tsinghua University Press
Facing the increased severely environmental challenges and energy shortages, the development of new green energy systems to replace the traditional fossil fuels has become more urgent for human being. Hydrogen (H2) is regarded as the environmentally friendly and renewable energy resource for the future. Its unparalleled virtue lies in the fact that its combustion byproduct is exclusively water. Alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) technology is recognized as one of the most promising methods for hydrogen production, while its widespread adoption has been impeded by the high associated costs, its global market share remains negligible, at less than 4%. Reducing the cost of alkaline water electrolysis for the production of green hydrogen is a common challenge for countries around the world. The limited elemental abundance and high cost of noble metal electrocatalysts like Pt and RuO2 constrain their large-scale application. Therefore, the development of bifunctional non-precious metal electrocatalysts with a high catalytic activity, low cost, and excellent stability is essential to significantly improve the energy efficiencies of AWE.
Recently, a team of material scientists led by Jinbo Xue from Taiyuan University of Technology (China) have in situ fabricated Fe2O3 nanoribbon arrays (HNBs-VO(LRO)-S) with long-range ordered oxygen vacancy structures on an iron substrate. While preserving the ordered oxygen vacancy structure, sulfur atoms selectively fill trap-state oxygen vacancies. The long-range ordered oxygen vacancies serve as fast pathways for electron transfer, while sulfur atoms can play a role of “killing three birds with one stone.”
The team published their work in Journal of Advanced Ceramics on August 24, 2025.
“In this study, we prepared one-dimensional Fe2O3 nanoribbon arrays (HNBs-VO(LRO)-S) with ordered oxygen vacancy structure by oxygen reduction. More important, the sulfur atoms selectively fill the trap state oxygen vacancies by sulfide thermal treatment to improve the bifunctional electrocatalytic activity and stability of Fe2O3. Under the condition of 1 M KOH, the HNBs-VO(LRO)-S exhibits extraordinary electrocatalytic performances for both HER (226 mV@100 mA cm-2) and OER (262 mV@10 mA cm-2, 306 mV@100 mA cm-2). In addition, HNBs-VO(LRO)-S bifunctional catalyst only requires the low cell voltages of 1.92 V to deliver the current density of 100 mA cm-2 and exhibits excellent long-term durability over 40 h.”said Jinbo Xue, professor at College of Materials Science and Engineering at Taiyuan University of Technology (China), a senior expert whose research interests focus on the field of photocatalysis.
“We have innovatively proposed the doping method of “introducing oxygen vacancies first and then filling them with S atoms”, which precisely regulates the doping position of S atoms. Sulfide heat treatment did not destroy the nanoribbons' microscopic morphology and crystal structure, the S atoms only filled the trap state oxygen vacancies, and the ordered oxygen vacancy structure was preserved.” said Jinbo Xue.
Under the condition of 1 M KOH, the HNBs-VO(LRO)-S exhibits extraordinary electrocatalytic performances for both HER (226 mV@100 mA cm-2) and OER (262 mV@10 mA cm-2, 306 mV@100 mA cm-2). In addition, HNBs-VO(LRO)-S bifunctional catalyst only requires the low cell voltages of 1.92 V to deliver the current density of 100 mA cm-2 and exhibits excellent long-term durability over 100 h. “Ordered oxygen vacancy structure not only provides directional fast channels for charge transport in catalytic reactions, but also serves as reactive sites in catalytic reactions. Meanwhile, The Fe-S coordination structure formed by S atoms filling the trap state oxygen vacancies both stabilizes the ordered oxygen vacancy structure of HNBs-VO(LRO)-S from being destroyed in the catalytic reaction, and at the same time S atoms can provide more active sites for the catalytic reaction. Furthermore, S atoms can lower the free energy barrier that the formation of O2 from OOH* and optimize the ∆GH* of Fe2O3 surface.” said Jinbo Xue.
Other contributors include Kaining Shi, Shihao Ding, Xueli Zhang, Hengrui Jian, Chenlong Dong, Qianqian Shen from the Key Laboratory of Interface Science and Engineering in Advanced Materials (Taiyuan University of Technology), China; Luhao Yang from the Sci-Tech Information and Strategic Research Center of Shanxi Province, Taiyuan, China.
This work was supported by the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant No. 52472300 and 62004137), Central Leading Science and Technology Development Foundation of Shanxi Province (Grant No. YDZJSX20231A020), The Special Project for Science and Technology Cooperation and Exchange in Shanxi Province (Grant No. 202404041101025), Shanxi-Zheda Institute of Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering (Grant No. 2022SX-TD002), Shanxi Scholarship Council of China (Grant No. 2020-050) and Science and Technology Program of Yuncheng City (Grant No. YCKJ-2023056).
About Author
Jinbo Xue (corresponding author): Associate Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Taiyuan University of Technology. Formerly served as Deputy Director of the Yuncheng Municipal Science and Technology Bureau (on secondment). Member of the Shanxi Provincial Science and Technology Innovation Team; recipient of the “Sanjin Talent” Support Program for Outstanding Young Professionals; Advisory Expert for the Future Development of New Materials Industries. Visiting Scholar at the University of Illinois and Tsinghua University. Member of the Shanxi Electron Microscopy Society, the Photocatalysis Committee of the Chinese Society for Photochemistry, and the Chinese Chemical Society. Research on the application of key semiconductor new materials in energy and environmental fields. Led two national-level projects, eight provincial/ministerial-level projects, and three industry-sponsored projects. Secured six authorized national invention patents and published over one hundred SCI-indexed papers.
Kaining Shi (First Author): Master's candidate at Taiyuan University of Technology, specializing in semiconductor photocatalytic water splitting research.
About Journal of Advanced Ceramics
Journal of Advanced Ceramics (JAC) is an international academic journal that presents the state-of-the-art results of theoretical and experimental studies on the processing, structure, and properties of advanced ceramics and ceramic-based composites. JAC is Fully Open Access, monthly published by Tsinghua University Press, and exclusively available via SciOpen. JAC’s 2024 IF is 16.6, ranking in Top 1 (1/33, Q1) among all journals in “Materials Science, Ceramics” category, and its 2024 CiteScore is 25.9 (5/130) in Scopus database. ResearchGate homepage: https://www.researchgate.net/journal/Journal-of-Advanced-Ceramics-2227-8508
Article Title
Journal of Advanced Ceramics
Article Publication Date
24-Aug-2025