Regulation of Perovskite Surface Stability on the Electrocatalysis of Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Electrocatalytic water splitting is considered as a promising route to use renewable energy for hydrogen production; however, its industrial application is limited by the anodic reaction, oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The key solution to unleash this constrain is to find an electrocatalyst that reduces the overpotential (η) of OER. Among the various electrocatalysts, perovskites have attracted intense attention recently for their high OER performance and low cost. To realize the commercial potential of perovskites, understanding its surface chemistry, including leaching, reconstruction, and lattice oxygen participated OER, is crucial to develop the next-generation perovskite catalysts,. In this Review, the perovskite surface stability is emphasized to be closely related to the chemical component of perovskite surface, which can be well controlled by surface engineering and further improves its OER performance. A new descriptor (stability level) is proposed to highlight the relationship between OER performance and surface stability of perovskite. This descriptor will provide potential strategies to optimize OER catalytic performance by tuning surface structure of perovskite.