Ligand-orchestrated transition metal aerogels: a tailored sulfur coordination strategy for superior oxygen evolution catalysis

Abstract

A novel strategy was developed to enhance oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance using a tailored sulfur coordination strategy in ternary transition metal sulfide-oxide aerogels (TMS1−xOx). The structural and electronic properties of the aerogels synthesized by a metal coordination-initiated sol–gel method were precisely engineered by tuning Co content and controlling sulfur coordination sites. With increasing cobalt content, enhanced sulfur coordination around nickel facilitated the formation of spike-shaped nanostructures, resulting in superior catalytic performance. The optimized catalyst exhibited a low overpotential of 190 mV at 10 mA cm−2, along with an enhanced electron transfer rate and exceptional stability exceeding 60 hours. Advanced characterization techniques, including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray absorption fine structure analysis, and density functional theory simulations, revealed that the ligand-orchestrated coordination environment around Ni plays a crucial role in modulating the electronic structure, thereby strengthening interactions with oxygen intermediates. The reaction followed the adsorbate evolution mechanism, demonstrating efficient catalysis with a reduced energy barrier for the rate-determining step. These findings underscore the importance of ligand-orchestrated coordination and structural engineering in developing high-performance OER catalysts.

Graphical abstract: Ligand-orchestrated transition metal aerogels: a tailored sulfur coordination strategy for superior oxygen evolution catalysis

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
25 Apr 2025
Accepted
14 Jul 2025
First published
15 Jul 2025

Mater. Horiz., 2025, Advance Article

Ligand-orchestrated transition metal aerogels: a tailored sulfur coordination strategy for superior oxygen evolution catalysis

Y. Kim, I. S. Kwon, S. Kim, D. Kang, V. G. Parale, H. Choi, W. Lee, J. Kim, H. J. Heo, K. Lee, S. Kim and H. Park, Mater. Horiz., 2025, Advance Article , DOI: 10.1039/D5MH00781J

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements