Engineering highly active oxygen sites in perovskite oxides for stable and efficient oxygen evolution

[Display omitted] •F anions in perovskite oxide lattice can active surface O for OER catalysis.•F substituted BSCF delivers 10 mA cm−2 OER at 280 mV overpotential.•Ultra-stable chronoamperometric response prolonged for 50 h. Perovskite oxides, represented by Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3-δ (BSCF), with O anion partially substituted by F anion are designed. Introduction of F in perovskite lattice initiated the transition of Co(III) and Fe(III) species to lower oxidation states and triggered the surface O anion to be activated to highly oxidative O2−/O‒, which is deemed to be efficient active sites for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysis. As a consequence, the F substituted BSCF (F-BSCF) catalyst exhibits outstanding electrocatalytic activity with overpotential of only 280 mV to deliver 10 mA cm‒2 OER, which is among the results for state-of-the-art metal oxide based catalysts. Strikingly, an stable chronoamperometric response prolonged for 100 h and an impressive cycling stability demonstrate its prominent durability, much superior to the commercial IrO2 catalyst. These findings highlight the promising potential of F substitution as an efficient strategy for active site engineering in traditional precious metal-free OER electrocatalysts.