Disordering the Atomic Structure of Co(II) Oxide via B‐Doping: An Efficient Oxygen Vacancy Introduction Approach for High Oxygen Evolution Reaction Electrocatalysts

Abstract

The introduction of oxygen (O) vacancies has been considered to be an important but challenging way to enhance the activity of electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Substitution by heteroatoms with high electron‐donating ability may be a feasible strategy for triggering O‐vacancies to maintain thermodynamic stability. Herein, density functional theory (DFT) calculations predict that the incorporation of boron (B) is favorable to the generation of O‐vacancies in transition metal oxides. Then, CoO nanowires with O‐vacancies are prepared via incorporation of B using a facile pyrolysis strategy. As evidenced by the combined results of electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and X‐ray absorption near edge structure, O‐vacancies in CoO are mainly derived from the disordering of the local structure caused by B doping. DFT calculation results further reveal that the oxidation of *OOH is the rate‐limiting step for O‐vacancies enriched CoO in the OER and that the presence of O‐vacancies can efficiently lower the reaction barrier for breaking CoO bond, contributing to the improvement of OER kinetics. As expected, the O‐vacancies enriched CoO exhibits a low overpotential of 280 mV to reach the current density of 10 mA cm−2 under basic conditions.

Doping‐Induced Amorphization, Vacancy, and Gradient Energy Band in SnS2Nanosheet Arrays for Improved Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

“…Thes urface-chemical states were checked by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra shown in Figure 2h In are doped into SnS 2 ,i ndicating the formation of S vacancies. [15] Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy further verifies an ESR peak at g = 2.001, which is identified as electrons trapped in Svacancies (Figure 2j). In comparison with SnS 2 and In:SnS 2 ,Z n/In:SnS 2 has the strongest peak intensity,s uggesting that Zn/In:SnS 2 contains the maximum amount of Svacancies.…”

Sub‐Nanometer‐Sized Iridium Species Decorated on Mesoporous Co3O4 for Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution

“…The variation in the percentages of Ir 0 and Ir 4+ (Table S1) indicates that the oxidation state of Ir species increases (the details of the estimation are presented in the Supporting Information) . In the O 1s spectra (Figure d), a predominant peak located at around 532.4 eV can be observed after stability test, indicating that the (oxy)‐hydroxide is formed on the surface of Ir−Co 3 O 4 ‐1 catalyst …”

Zinc Substitution‐Induced Subtle Lattice Distortion Mediates the Active Center of Cobalt Diselenide Electrocatalysts for Enhanced Oxygen Evolution

“…[46] The O2 and O3 peaks were associated with hydroxyl groups and absorbed water. [4] Further, the oxidation phenomenon was also revealed by the disappearance of surface metal-selenide bond ( Figure S14, Supporting Information).…”

“…Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays a crucial role in the anodic reaction of various electrochemical systems for sustainable conversion of renewable energy into chemical fuels. [1][2][3][4]…”