Stabilizing Lattice Oxygen through Mn Doping in NiCo₂O_4- Spinel Electrocatalysts for Efficient and Durable Acid Oxygen Evolution

Design the electrocatalysts without noble metal is still a challenge for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in acid media. Herein, we reported the manganese (Mn) doping method to decrease the concentration of oxygen vacancy (V-O) and form the Mn-O structure adjacent octahedral sites in spinel NiCo2O4-delta (NiMn1.5Co3O4-delta), which highly enhanced the activity and stability of spinel NiCo2O4-delta with a low overpotential (eta) of 280 mV at j=10 mA cm(-2) and long-term stability of 80 h in acid media. The isotopic labelling experiment based on differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) clearly demonstrated the lattice oxygen in NiMn1.5Co3O4-delta is more stable due to strong Mn-O bond and shows synergetic adsorbate evolution mechanism (SAEM) for acid OER. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal highly increased oxygen vacancy formation energy (E-VO) of NiCo2O4-delta after Mn doping. More importantly, the highly hydrogen bonding between Mn-O and *OOH adsorbed on adjacent Co octahedral sites promote the formation of *OO from *OOH due to the greatly enhanced charge density of O in Mn substituted sites.