Synergistic modulation of CoOOH by dual-defects to enhance the catalytic performance of the oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract

We propose a dual-defect engineering approach for boosting the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance of CoOOH, implemented through the simultaneous incorporation of sulfur dopants and cobalt vacancies to tailor its electronic structure. First-principles calculations indicate that this synergistic interaction efficiently refines the binding geometry of key intermediates, leading to a substantial decrease in the energy barrier associated with the rate-determining step. Electrochemical characterization confirms the optimized catalyst's exceptional performance, delivering a low overpotential of 251.4 mV to reach 10 mA cm⁻² and a Tafel slope of 51.8 mV dec⁻¹ in 1 M KOH.