Anomalous detachment behavior and directional reconstruction regulation of leaching-type precatalysts for industrial water electrolyzers.

Current reconstruction chemistry studies are mainly operated at the laboratory scale, where the operating parameters are significantly different from those used in industrial water electrolyzer. This gap leads to unclear reconstruction behaviors under industrial conditions and constrains the realistic application of catalysts. Here, we present a new reconstruction mechanism with phase separation behavior and anomalous detachment phenomena observed in leaching-type oxygen-evolving precatalysts under industrial conditions, different from the reported results obtained under laboratory conditions. The identified detachment issues are closely linked to the production of a separate phase (K 2 BDC, 71.8% by volume), which proves sensitive to the local environment and its instability easily leads to catalyst breakage and stripping from the substrate. By establishing the detachment critical point and operating parameter-detachment correlation, a targeted reconstruction strategy is proposed to achieve smooth ligand leaching and effectively solve the detachment issue. Theoretical analyses validate the dual-site regulation in directionally reconstructed catalyst, optimizing intermediate adsorption and enhancing catalytic kinetics. Under industrial conditions, the coupled electrolyser delivers an industrial-level current density at low cell voltage with prolonged durability, 1 A cm -2 at 2 V for over 340 hours. This work bridges the gap of leaching-type precatalysts between laboratory test conditions and industrial operating conditions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.