Insights on boosting oxygen evolution reaction performance via boron incorporation into nitrogen-doped carbon electrocatalysts

The exploration of high-efficiency electrocatalysts for water splitting is significant for large-scale hydrogen production. Herein, boron atoms were incorporated into nitrogen-doped carbon as electrocatalyst through a one-step plasma synthesis route. The obtained B,N-codoped catalyst presented superior electrocatalytic performance, with an onset potential of 1.46 V vs RHE and corresponding overpotentials of 270 mV and 509 mV at current densities of 10 and 100 mA cm⁻², which were significantly lower than that of N-doped carbon (1.56 V vs RHE, 331 mV and 554 mV), and even outperformed the commercial 5 wt% Ru/C (1.48 V vs RHE, 275 mV and 547 mV). Moreover, it exhibited higher stability than Ru/C in 9-h durability test and remained relatively high OER catalytic activities. Density functional theory has verified the OH molecule was firstly adsorbed on the top side of B atom in the B,N-codoped carbon. The OH* chemisorption energy on B,N-codoped carbon was less than that on N-doped carbon catalyst system by 0.281 eV, which translated into a higher kinetic OER activity of B,N-codoped carbon. Combined with the electrochemical performance, boron as OER active sites in B,N-codoped carbon should be considered as a valid strategy to boost the performance of heteroatom-doped carbon OER electrocatalysts.