Atoms to Systems Lab 

The energy crisis and environmental pollution from vast consumption of fossil fuels prompt scientific exploration into sustainable energy systems. Hydrogen produced from electrocatalytic water splitting is regarded as an alternative to fossil fuels owing to its clean and sustainable properties. However, the overall efficiency of water splitting is severely limited by the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) due to its sluggish kinetics and a substantial overpotential. Certain precious-metal-based catalysts, such as IrO2 and RuO2, have been used to catalyze OER well, while the scarcity and high cost restricts their large-scale application. Therefore, developing OER catalysts with abundant element storage and high activity are highly required.

Cost effective and durable electrocatalysts are urgently required in oxygen evolution reaction (OER), a critical process in electrochemical energy storage and conversion devices. Conventional catalysts involve the alloying of rare elements, limiting their wide adoption. Our group have investigated Mn doped ultrathin oxide nanosheets prepared and demonstrated as an efficient OER catalyst. The generation of the high valence state sites and an increased oxygen vacancy concentration have been shown to enhanced OER kinetics.