Rational catalyst design for nonaqueous oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is critical to enable efficient rechargeable Li-O₂ batteries. Here, we show that promoting the fraction of the high-surface-energy facet of the catalyst is an effective approach to increase the Li-O₂ OER activity. We designed a series of chromium oxide (Cr₂O₃) with varying fractions of high-energy facet by inhibiting the growth of the low-energy facet, i.e., (012) of Cr₂O₃. Remarkably, the Li-O₂ OER activity of Cr₂O₃ increases with increasing fraction of high-energy facet and demonstrates higher activity than the state-of-the-art precious metal Ru/Vulcan carbon catalyst by more than 120 mV, representing one of the most active Li-O₂ OER catalysts. Our study demonstrates that surface energy of catalyst is a key material property governing the Li-O₂ OER activity and offers an effective catalyst design strategy for rechargeable Li-O₂ batteries.

非水氧逸出反应（OER）的合理催化剂设计对于实现高效可充电Li-O ₂电池至关重要。在这里，我们表明，提高催化剂高表面能方面的分数是增加Li-O ₂ OER活性的有效方法。我们通过抑制低能小平面（即Cr ₂ O _3的（012））的生长，设计了一系列具有不同分数的高能小平面的氧化铬（Cr ₂ O ₃）。值得注意的是，Cr ₂ O ₃的Li-O ₂ OER活性随着高能刻面分数的增加而增加，并且表现出比最先进的贵金属Ru / Vulcan碳催化剂高120 mV的活性，这是最具活性的Li-O ₂ OER催化剂之一。我们的研究表明，催化剂的表面能是控制Li-O ₂ OER活性的关键材料性能，并为可充电Li-O ₂电池提供了有效的催化剂设计策略。