A promising engineering strategy for water electro-oxidation iridate catalysts via coordination distortion

Here, we study the relationship between the coordination structure of IrO₆ and OER activity in a wide range of oxides with systematic comparisons. The results reveal that distorted IrO₆ is more conducive to OER activity. Specifically, for a given material, regulating the transformation of the IrO₆ octahedron from D_4h compression to D_4h elongation causes electrons near the E_F level to become more delocalized, which is very beneficial for reducing the energy of the rate determining step. Our findings will guide the design and preparation of more efficient iridium-based OER catalysts.