Identification of electro-catalysts containing non-noble metal or significantly reduced amounts of expensive noble metals (e.g. RuO2) is highly desirable. Development of such a catalyst with comparable electrochemical performance to the standard noble metal oxide for proton exchange membrane (PEM) based water electrolysis would constitute a pioneering breakthrough in hydrogen generation by water electrolysis. In line with these goals, by exploiting a two-pronged theoretical first principles and experimental approach herein we demonstrate that a nano-structured solid solution of SnO2:10 wt% F containing only 20 at.% RuO2 [e.g. (Sn0.80Ru0.20)O-2:10F] displays a remarkably similar electrochemical activity and moreover, comparable or even much improved electrochemical stability and durability compared to pure the noble metal counterpart, RuO2. Density functional theory calculations have demonstrated direct dependence of the catalytic activity on the electronic structure peculiarities of the F-doped (Ru,Sn)O-2 which corresponds well with the experimental results. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.