ABSTRACT Developing efficient and durable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts is essential for scalable hydrogen production via water splitting. While NiFe‐layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are promising low‐cost catalysts, their catalytic performance and stability remain limited. In this study, we report a one‐step laser ablation in liquid (LAL) strategy to synthesize low‐loading Ru‐doped NiFe‐LDH nanosheets (NiFeRu/C‐LDH) with precisely controlled electronic and structural properties. The laser‐driven uniform incorporation of Ru 4 + into the NiFe‐LDH lattice induces contraction and optimization of the local coordination environment. The resulting catalyst achieves low overpotentials of 236 and 299 mV at 10 and 100 mA cm − 2 , respectively, in 1 M KOH, outperforming commercial IrO 2 and undoped NiFe/C‐LDH. It also demonstrates high durability with 95.3% activity retention after 200 h of continuous operation. Combined experimental and Density functional theory (DFT) calculations, the theoretical analyses reveal that strong Ru–O coordination and enhanced electronic interactions activate adjacent Fe sites, and establish a Fe–Ru dual active center configuration that facilitates OH − adsorption and lowers the energy barrier of the rate‐determining O–O coupling step. This work offers a scalable laser‐based synthesis route for high‐performance electrocatalysts with tailored active sites.
Ding et al. (Sun,) studied this question.