Tuning the surface chemistry of La_0.6Sr_0.4CoO₃- perovskite via in-situ anchored chemical bonds for enhanced overall water splitting

Perovskites have garnered huge interest as electrocatalysts in water-oxidation. Despite their salient features, chemical instability of the perovskite oxide surfaces still limits their durability in electrochemical water-splitting. Here, we propose a simple strategy to increase the overall activity and stability of La0.6Sr0.4CoO3-delta (LSC) perovskite just by reconstructing its surface. Preeminent oxygen evolution (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts, namely, nickel-iron oxyhydroxide (NiFe(OH)(2) denoted as NiFe) and nickel-manganese hydroxide (NiMn(OH)(2) denoted as NiMn) are in-situ anchored on LSC surface, respectively. The resulting composites greatly facilitate the electron mobility and deliver excellent activity towards OER and HER with low overpotentials of eta = 250 mV at 10 mA cm(-2) and eta = 63 mV at 50 mA cm(-2), respectively. The (LSC@NiFe & Vert;LSC@NiMn) electrolyzer reached 10 mA cm(-2) at a cell voltage of 1.57 V. We also validated the redistribution of electrons and oxygen, and the abundance of exposed active sites by incorporation of active hydroxides.