Hydrophilic RuGd Alloy Redirecting Interfacial Water Adsorption Configuration for Long-Term and Ampere-Level Hydrogen Evolution.

Rapid interfacial water dissociation is pivotal to efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in anion-exchange-membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE), whereas its effective modulation remains a great challenge. Herein, we develop a hydrophilic RuGd alloy supported on carboxylated lignin-derived carbon (RuGd/CLC) enabling rapid interfacial water dissociation for long-term and ampere-level hydrogen production. The RuGd/CLC as a cathode catalyst of AEMWE cell can achieve 1.0 A cm-2 at only 1.685 V and sustains continuous operation for over 1200 h with a degradation rate of only 10 µV h-1. It is discovered that the hydrophilic Gd induces local charge redistribution and interfacial oxyphilic site that strengthens O-end interaction of H2O at the alloy interface, which redirects adsorbed H2O from a parallel configuration on Ru to a more polarized asymmetric H-down configuration. This reorientation is accompanied by unequal O─H bond elongation and hydrogen-bond-network reconstruction from a bound state toward free water, which reduces water dissociation energy barriers to continuously supply sufficient protons in HER. This work provides an effective rare earth induced redirection strategy for accelerating interfacial water dissociation and high-performance hydrogen production.