The development of efficient and cost-effective electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is crucial for advancing green hydrogen production via water electrolysis. While perovskite oxides represent promising non-noble metal catalysts, their OER performance is often limited by poor conductivity and insufficient active site exposure. In this work, we report a rapid and versatile plasma engineering strategy to significantly enhance the OER activity of perovskite oxides LaMO3 (M = Fe, Co, Ni). The modified catalyst (V-LaFeO3) exhibits increased specific surface area, abundant oxygen vacancies, and improved charge transfer capability. As a result, V-LaFeO3 achieves a low overpotential of 332 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm- 2, outperforming both pristine LaFeO3 and commercial RuO2. The universality of this approach is further demonstrated with LaCoO3 and LaNiO3 oxides, which also show enhanced OER performance after plasma treatment. This study highlights plasma engineering as a general and efficient strategy for designing high-performance perovskite-based electrocatalysts for sustainable energy applications.
Wang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.