Remarkably Enhanced Lattice Oxygen Participation in Perovskites to Boost Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Enhancing the participation of the lattice oxygen mechanism (LOM) in several perovskites to significantly boost the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is daunting. With the rapid decline in fossil fuels, energy research is turning toward water splitting to produce usable hydrogen by significantly reducing overpotential for other half-cells’ OER. Recent studies have shown that in addition to the conventional adsorbate evolution mechanism (AEM), participation of LOM can overcome their prevalent scaling relationship limitations. Here, we report the acid treatment strategy and bypass the cation/anion doping strategy to significantly enhance LOM participation. Our perovskite demonstrated a current density of 10 mA cm⁻² at an overpotential of 380 mV and a low Tafel slope (65 mV dec⁻¹) much lower than IrO₂ (73 mV dec⁻¹). We propose that the presence of nitric acid-induced defects regulates the electronic structure and thereby lowers oxygen binding energy, allowing enhanced LOM participation to boost OER significantly.