The lattice oxygen mechanism (LOM) is considered one of the promising approaches to overcome the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER), bypassing -OOH* coordination with a high energetic barrier. Activated lattice oxygen can participate in the OER as a reactant and enables O*-O* coupling for direct O2 formation. However, such reaction kinetics inevitably include the generation of oxygen vacancies, which leads to structural degradation, and eventually shortens the lifetime of catalysts. Here, we demonstrate that Se incorporation significantly enhances OER performance and the stability of NiFe (oxy)hydroxide (NiFe) which follows the LOM pathway. In Se introduced NiFe (NiFeSe), Se forms not only metal-Se bonding but also Se-oxygen bonding by replacing oxygen sites and metal sites, respectively. As a result, transition metals show reduced valence states while oxygen shows less reduced valence states (O-/O2 2-) which is a clear evidence of lattice oxygen activation. By virtue of its electronic structure modulation, NiFeSe shows enhanced OER activity and long-term stability with robust active lattice oxygen compared to NiFe.

Composites of gadolinium-doped ceria/magnesia(CGO/MgO) were synthesized and characterized for the electrolytes of intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells. XRD and SEM results revealed that composite electrolytes consisted of their own phases after sintering at 1400˚C without noticeable solid solution of Mg into CGO. As the MgO content increased, the total electrical conductivity decreased, which might be attributed to the decrease of grain boundary conductivity, possibly due to the lowering of the continuity of the CGO grains and blocking effects of the insulating MgO phase. The space charge effect may not be a significant factor to affect the electrical conductivity of the CGO/MgO composites.