ABSTRACT Designing efficient and stable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts for anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) systems is critical for sustainable energy conversion. Here, we demonstrate a strain engineering strategy through hydrothermal impregnation to anchor W single atoms on MnO 2 nanofibers, effectively modulating their electronic structure. The introduced tensile strain weakens the metal‐oxygen bond strength, triggering a transition of the OER mechanism from the adsorbate evolution mechanism to the lattice oxygen‐mediated mechanism‐oxygen vacancy site mechanism (LOM‐OVSM). The optimized W 2.06% ‐MnO 2 exhibits superior OER performance with an overpotential of 230 mV at 10 mA cm −2 . When applied in an AEMWE cell, it requires 1.77 V to drive 1 A cm −2 and demonstrates continuous operation for over 450 h. This study provides fundamental insights into strain‐induced modulation of reaction pathways and offers a practical strategy for designing advanced electrocatalysts toward scalable green hydrogen production.
Zhao et al. (Thu,) studied this question.