Engineering of the d‐Band Center of Perovskite Cobaltite for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution
Yiqiang Sun, Zihan Zhao, Si Wu, Wenjuan Li, Bo Wu, Guang‐Ning Liu, Guozhu Chen, Bo Xu, Baotao Kang, Yue Li, Cuncheng Li
Abstract
Abstract Great efforts have been made to understand and upgrade the kinetically sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this study, a series of V‐doped LaCoO 3 (V‐LCO) OER electrocatalysts with optimized d‐band centers are fabricated. When utilized as an electrode for the OER, as‐formed LaCo 0.8 V 0.2 O 3 (V‐LCO‐II) requires an overpotential of only 306 mV to drive a geometrical catalytic current density of 10 mA cm −2 . Furthermore, at a given overpotential of 350 mV, the OER current density of V‐LCO‐II is about 22 times that of pure LaCoO 3 (LCO) nanoparticles. Tailoring of the d‐band center by V doping facilitates the adsorption of OER intermediates and promotes the formation of amorphous active species on the surface of LCO through the exchange interaction between high‐spin V 4+ and low‐spin Co 2+ . This work may create new opportunities for developing other highly active OER catalysts through d‐band center engineering.