Boosting Electrocatalytic Activity of 3d‐Block Metal (Hydro)oxides by Ligand‐Induced Conversion

Abstract The 3d‐transition‐metal (hydro)oxides belong to a group of highly efficient, scalable and inexpensive electrocatalysts for widespread energy‐related applications that feature easily tailorable crystal and electronic structures. We propose a general strategy to further boost their electrocatalytic activities by introducing organic ligands into the framework, considering that most 3d‐metal (hydro)oxides usually exhibit quite strong binding with reaction intermediates and thus compromised activity due to the scaling relations. Involving weakly bonded ligands downshifts the d‐band center, which narrows the band gap, and optimizes the adsorption of these intermediates. For example, the activity of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) can be greatly promoted by ≈5.7 times over a NiCo layered double hydroxide (LDH) after a terephthalic acid (TPA)‐induced conversion process, arising from the reduced energy barrier of the deprotonation of OH* to O*. Impressively, the proposed ligand‐induced conversion strategy is applicable to a series of 3d‐block metal (hydro)oxides, including NiFe 2 O 4 , NiCo 2 O 4 , and NiZn LDH, providing a general structural upgrading scheme for existing high‐performance electrocatalytic systems.