Operando identification of site-dependent water oxidation activity on ruthenium dioxide single-crystal surfaces
Understanding the nature of active sites is central to controlling the activity of a given catalyst. This work combines operando characterization and computational techniques to examine the oxygen evolution reaction mechanism on RuO2 surfaces. Understanding the nature of active sites is central to controlling (electro)catalytic activity. Here we employed surface X-ray scattering coupled with density functional theory and surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy to examine the oxygen evolution reaction on RuO2 surfaces as a function of voltage. At 1.5 V-RHE, our results suggest that there is an -OO group on the coordinatively unsaturated ruthenium (Ru-CUS) site of the (100) surface (andmore »