Theoretical and experimental study of the effects of cobalt and nickel doping within IrO2 on the acidic oxygen evolution reaction

•The study evaluated Ni- and Co-doping within IrO2 on the oxygen evolution reaction.•Multiple reaction pathways characterized using Density Functional Theory.•Ni and Co dopants alter the thermodynamics and kinetics of the reaction steps.•Theory and experiments show Ni- and Co-doping lower the activation energy.•The rate determining step was evaluated from theory and experiments.