The oxygen evolution reaction that occurs during water oxidation is of considerable importance as an essential energy conversion reaction for rechargeable metal-air batteries and direct solar water splitting. Cost-efficient ABO3 perovskites have been studied extensively because of their high activity for the oxygen evolution reaction; however, they lack stability, and an effective solution to this problem has not yet been demonstrated. Here we report that the Fe4+-based quadruple perovskite CaCu3Fe4O12 has high activity, which is comparable to or exceeding those of state-of-the-art catalysts such as Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3−δ and the gold standard RuO2. The covalent bonding network incorporating multiple Cu2+ and Fe4+ transition metal ions significantly enhances the structural stability of CaCu3Fe4O12, which is key to achieving highly active long-life catalysts.
Nature Communications 6, Article number: 8249 doi:10.1038/ncomms9249
Received 20 May 2015 Accepted 31 July 2015 Published 10 September 2015
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150910/ncomms9249/full/ncomms9249.html