A review of anion regulated multi-anion transition metal compounds for oxygen evolution electrocatalysis

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is one of the research focuses in clean energy field, for it is the core reaction in electrochemical water splitting, rechargeable metal-air batteries, etc. With a complicated four-electron process, OER suffers from its slow reaction rate. Therefore, the exploration of efficient OER electrocatalysts has become a significant topic in the research of advanced energy materials. Transition metal compounds exhibit great potential towards highly active OER electrocatalysts, and rational regulations have been applied to boost their OER performances. Among these strategies, anion regulation is an emerging but effective way to improve the OER activity of transition metal compounds. In this review, the recent advances in the anion regulated multi-anion transition metal compounds as OER catalysts are introduced, concerning about the synthesis methods, the regulation of the anions and its effect on the OER activity. The anion regulation during the OER test, i.e. the surface oxidation of the catalysts, is also discussed in this review. Then the researches are introduced according to the type of the regulated anions. This review is expected to inspire more insights into the composition and structure regulation of OER catalysts, and further researches on transition metal-based energy materials