Ru–Co Pair Sites Catalyst Boosts the Energetics for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Manipulating the coordination environment of the active center via anion modulation to reveal tailored activity and selectivity has been widely achieved, especially for carbon-based single-atom site catalysts (SACs). However, tuning ligand fields of the active center by single-site metal cation regulation and identifying the effects on the resulting electronic configuration is seldom explored. Herein, we propose a single-site Ru cation coordination strategy to engineer the electronic properties by constructing a Ru/LiCoO2 SAC with atomically dispersed Ru−Co pair sites. Benefitting from the strong electronic coupling between Ru and Co sites, the catalyst possesses an enhanced electrical conductivity and achieves near-optimal oxygen adsorption energies. Therefore, the optimized catalyst delivers superior oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity with low overpotential, the high mass activity of 1000 A goxide−1 at a small overpotential of 335 mV, and excellent long-term stability. It also exhibits rapid kinetics with superior rate capability and outstanding durability in a zinc–air battery.