Interfacial electron transfer in heterojunction nanofibers for highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract

Efficient catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are critical to the progress of electrochemical devices for clean energy conversion and storage. Although heterogeneous electrocatalysts have superior activity, it is a great challenge to elucidate electron transfer at surface catalytic sites and intrinsic mechanisms. Herein, we demonstrate a new type of heterostructure electrocatalyst in which Sr_0.9Ce_0.05Fe_0.95Ru_0.05O₃ fibers are hybridized with in situ grown RuO₂ nanoparticles (SCFR–RuO₂). We investigate its unique structure, electron transfer mechanisms related to the highly OER activity by combining experimental and theoretical calculations. Remarkably, SCFR–RuO₂ shows an optimized OER overpotential of 295 mV at 10 mA cm⁻². The promoted electron transfer and OER kinetics are ascribed to the coupling of electronic effects at the SCFR–RuO₂ heterostructure. A strong triangular relationship among overpotential–Tafel slope–work function is proposed to be a potential descriptor of OER activity in SCFR–RuO₂. These insights provide guidelines for tuning the OER performance via modified work functions in perovskite electrocatalysts.