Oxygen evolution reaction over catalytic single-site Co in a well-defined brookite TiO2 nanorod surface

Efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are paramount to the development of electrochemical devices for clean energy and fuel conversion. However, the structural complexity of heterogeneous electrocatalysts makes it a great challenge to elucidate the surface catalytic sites and OER mechanisms. Here, we report that catalytic single-site Co in a well-defined brookite TiO2 nanorod (210) surface (Co-TiO2) presents turnover frequencies that are among the highest for Co-based heterogeneous catalysts reported to date, reaching 6.6 ± 1.2 and 181.4 ± 28 s−1 at 300 and 400 mV overpotentials, respectively. Based on grand canonical quantum mechanics calculations and the single-site Co atomic structure validated by in situ and ex situ spectroscopic probes, we have established a full description of the catalytic reaction kinetics for Co-TiO2 as a function of applied potential, revealing an adsorbate evolution mechanism for the OER. The computationally predicted Tafel slope and turnover frequencies exhibit exceedingly good agreement with experiment. The rational design of efficient water oxidation electrocatalysts is paramount to the development of electrochemical devices. Now, a Co-TiO2 single-site catalyst is presented for alkaline water oxidation with high intrinsic activity, and its mechanism has been studied by grand canonical quantum mechanics calculations and in situ techniques.