Bifunctional Square-Planar NiO₄ Coordination of Topotactic LaNiO_2.0 Films for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction

The high-efficient and low-cost oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is decisive for applications of oxide catalysts in metal-air batteries, electrolytic cells, and energy-storage technologies. Delicate regulations of active surface and catalytic reaction pathway of oxide materials principally determine thermodynamic energy barrier and kinetic rate during catalytic reactions, and thus have crucial impacts on OER performance. Herein, a synergistic modulation of catalytically active surface and reaction pathway through facile topotactic transformations switching from perovskite (PV) LaNiO3.0 film to infinite-layer (IL) LaNiO2.0 film is demonstrated, which absolutely contributes to improving OER performance. The square-planar NiO4 coordination of IL-LaNiO2.0 brings about more electrochemically active metal (Ni+) sites on the film surface. Meanwhile, the oxygen-deficient driven PV- IL topotactic transformations lead to a reaction pathway converted from absorbate evolution mechanism to lattice-oxygen-mediated mechanism (LOM). The non-concerted proton-electron transfer of LOM pathway, evidenced by the pH-dependent OER kinetics, further boosts the OER activity of IL-LaNiO2.0 films. These findings will advance the in-depth understanding of catalytic mechanisms and open new possibilities for developing highly active perovskite-derived oxide catalysts.