Despite over a century of research to understand heterogeneous electrocatalysis, the precise mechanisms of action remain poorly understood. Now, it is proposed that the oxygen evolution reaction on IrOx is driven by changes in the redox state of the Ir–O active sites, rather than by changes in the interfacial electric field.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Isotope-dependent Tafel analysis probes proton transfer kinetics during electrocatalytic water splitting
Nature Chemistry Open Access 09 September 2025
-
Oxidation of interfacial cobalt controls the pH dependence of the oxygen evolution reaction
Nature Chemistry Open Access 28 March 2025
-
Bifunctional mixed-valence ruthenium heterostructure for robust electrocatalytic water splitting in acid media
Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials Open Access 18 January 2025
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References
Guidelli, R. et al. Pure Appl. Chem. 86, 245–258 (2014).
Boettcher, S. W. et al. ACS Energy Lett. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.0c02443 (2020).
Nong, H. N. et al. Nature 587, 408–413 (2020).
Burke, M. S., Enman, L. J., Batchellor, A. S., Zou, S. & Boettcher, S. W. Chem. Mater. 27, 7549–7558 (2015).
Grimaud, A., Hong, W. T., Shao-Horn, Y. & Tarascon, J.-M. Nat. Mater. 15, 121–126 (2016).
Francàs, L. et al. Nat. Commun. 10, 5208 (2019).
Corrigan, D. A. J. Electrochem. Soc. 134, 377 (1987).
Surendranath, Y., Kanan, M. W. & Nocera, D. G. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132, 16501–16509 (2010).
Pearce, P. E. et al. Chem. Mater. 31, 5845–5855 (2019).
Jackson, M. N. & Surendranath, Y. Acc. Chem. Res. 52, 3432–3441 (2019).
Warburton, R. E. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 142, 20855–20864 (2020).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Boettcher, S.W., Surendranath, Y. Heterogeneous electrocatalysis goes chemical. Nat Catal 4, 4–5 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-020-00570-1
Published:
Version of record:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-020-00570-1
This article is cited by
-
Isotope-dependent Tafel analysis probes proton transfer kinetics during electrocatalytic water splitting
Nature Chemistry (2025)
-
Oxidation of interfacial cobalt controls the pH dependence of the oxygen evolution reaction
Nature Chemistry (2025)
-
Bifunctional mixed-valence ruthenium heterostructure for robust electrocatalytic water splitting in acid media
Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials (2025)
-
Structural engineering of high-entropy alloys for advanced electrocatalytic reactions
Tungsten (2025)
-
Molecular-scale insights into the electrical double layer at oxide-electrolyte interfaces
Nature Communications (2024)