Spin-state reconfiguration induced by alternating magnetic field for efficient oxygen evolution reaction
Gang Zhou, Peifang Wang, Hao Li, Bin Hu, Yan Sun, Rong Huang, Lizhe Liu
Abstract
Abstract Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays a determining role in electrochemical energy conversion devices, but challenges remain due to the lack of effective low-cost electrocatalysts and insufficient understanding about sluggish reaction kinetics. Distinguish from complex nano-structuring, this work focuses on the spin-related charge transfer and orbital interaction between catalysts and intermediates to accelerate catalytic reaction kinetics. Herein, we propose a simple magnetic-stimulation approach to rearrange spin electron occupation in noble-metal-free metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with a feature of thermal-differentiated superlattice, in which the localized magnetic heating in periodic spatial distribution makes the spin flip occur at particular active sites, demonstrating a spin-dependent reaction pathway. As a result, the spin-rearranged Co 0.8 Mn 0.2 MOF displays mass activities of 3514.7 A g metal −1 with an overpotential of ~0.27 V, which is 21.1 times that of pristine MOF. Our findings provide a new paradigm for designing spin electrocatalysis and steering reaction kinetics.