Enhanced electrocatalytic activity via phase transitions in strongly correlated SrRuO3 thin films

Abstract

Transition metal oxides have been extensively studied and utilized as efficient catalysts. However, the strongly correlated behavior which often results in intriguing emergent phenomena in these materials has been mostly overlooked in understanding the electrochemical activities. Here, we demonstrate a close correlation between the phase transitions and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in a strongly correlated SrRuO3. By systematically introducing Ru-O vacancies into the single-crystalline SrRuO3 epitaxial thin films, we induced phase transition in crystalline symmetry which resulted in corresponding modification in the electronic structure. The modified electronic structure significantly affect the electrochemical activities, so a 30% decrease in the overpotential for the OER activity was achieved. Our study suggests that a substantial enhancement in the OER activity can be realized even within single material systems, by rational design and engineering of their crystal and electronic structures.

arXiv comment31 pages, 18 figures, 2 tables

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• Correlated Quantum Phenomena of Spin-Orbit Coupled Perovskite Oxide Heterostructures: Cases of SrRuO3 and SrIrO3-Based Artificial Superlattices
• Enhanced magnetic and thermoelectric properties in epitaxial polycrystalline SrRuO3 thin film
• Epitaxial stabilization of metastable 3C BaRuO3 thin film with ferromagnetic non-Fermi liquid phase
• Defect engineering of magnetic ground state in EuTiO${}_3$ epitaxial thin films
• Crystalline symmetry-dependent magnon formation in itinerant ferromagnet SrRuO3
• Exploration of lattice Hamiltonians for functional and structural discovery via Gaussian Process-based Exploration-Exploitation
• Atomic and Electronic Structures of Correlated SrRuO3/SrTiO3 Superlattices
• Ex-situ atomic force microscopy on the growth mode of SrRuO3 epitaxial thin film
• Enhanced electrocatalytic oxygen evolution activity in geometrically designed SrRuO3 thin films
• Awakening catalytically active surface of BaRuO3 thin film for alkaline hydrogen evolution