Breaking hydrogen-bonding confinement with B-OH groups to accelerate proton transfer during oxygen evolution.

This study engineers the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) microenvironment through the introduction of B-OH groups and quantifies their proton transfer coefficients under high-current-density conditions by analyzing open-circuit potential decay transients. The presence of B-OH groups near Ru active sites reorganizes the local hydrogen-bonding network, which enriches free water molecules and facilitates proton transfer kinetics. This modification improves OER performance without modifying the electronic structures of the active centers, demonstrating a strategy with broad applicability across diverse electrocatalytic systems.