The stability and tunability of oxide materials make them excellent candidates for utilization as electrocatalysts for water-splitting. In particular, given the sluggish nature of the oxygen-evolution component of water-splitting, there is need for efficient and stable materials that can catalyze this reaction effectively.<br/>We have designed a series of electrocatalysts based on oxide materials, where catalytic activity is modified by changes to the distribution of defects in the material lattice. Our focus has been on systems where the arrangement of oxygen-vacancies dictates the structure-type. In ordered structures, there is often a systematic distribution of tetrahedra, square pyramids, and/or octahedra. We have shown interesting correlations between defect arrangement and electrocatalytic activity for oxygen-evolution reaction of water splitting. We have demonstrated that the reaction overpotentials can be enhanced by changing the distribution of vacancies. Furthermore, the enhancement in electrocatalytic activity is associated with higher electrochemically active surface area and faster reaction kinetics, both of which follow the same trend.

Oxygen-evolution reaction of water-splitting catalyzed by defect oxide electrocatalysts

ACS Fall 2021

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