Promoting the Fe(VI) active species generation by structural and electronic modulation of efficient iron oxide based water oxidation catalyst without Ni or Co

Fe is considered as a promising alternative for OER catalysts owing to its high natural abundance and low cost. Due to the low conductivity and sluggish catalytic kinetics, the catalytic efficiency of Fe-rich catalysts is far from less abundant Ni, Co-rich alternatives and has been hardly improved without the involvement of Ni or Co. The lower activity of Fe-rich catalysts renders the real active center of state-of-the-art NiFe, CoFe catalyst in long-term scientific debate, despite of detection of Fe-based active intermediates in these catalysts during catalytic process. In the present work, we fabricated a series of sub-5 nm Fe1-yCryOx nanocatalysts via a simple solvothermal method, achieving systematically promoted high-valent Fe(VI) species generation by structural and electronic modulation, displaying highly active OER performance without involvement of Ni or Co. Detailed investigation revealed that the high OER activity is related to the ultrasmall nanoparticle size that promotes abundant edge- and corner-site exposure at catalyst surface, which involves in OER as highly reactive site; and the incorporated Cr ions that remarkably accelerate the charge transfer kinetics, providing an effective conduit as well as suitable host for high-valent active intermediate. This work reveals the structural prerequisites for efficient Fe-rich OER catalyst fabrication, inspiring deeper understanding of the structure-activity relationship as well as OER mechanism of Fe-based catalysts.