Oxygen Vacancies Unfold the Catalytic Potential of NiFe-Layered Double Hydroxides by Promoting Their Electronic Transport for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Oxygen vacancies (Ov) engineering has demonstrated tremendous power to expedite electrocatalytic kinetics for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The mechanism is elusive, and most of them were attributed to the decoration or creation of active sites. Here, we report the critical role of superficial Ov in enhancing the electronic transport, thereby unfolding the catalytic potential of NiFe-layered double hydroxides for OER. We reveal that the superficial Ov engineering barely regulates the intrinsic catalytic activities but lowers the charge transport resistances by more than one order of magnitude. Loading-dependent electrochemical analysis suggests that the superficial Ov engineering intensively modulates the…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Award: 51902200
• MO
  Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China

  Award: 2021YFB3800300
• SA
  Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality

  Awards: 23ZR1433000, 22511100400
• SJ
  Shanghai Jiao Tong University