Unravelling the pH-dependent mechanism of ferroelectric polarization on different dynamic pathways of photoelectrochemical water oxidation.

Ferroelectric polarization is considered to be an effective strategy to improve the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) of photoelectrocatalysis. The primary challenge is to clarify how the polarization field controls the OER dynamic pathway at a molecular level. Here, electrochemical fingerprint tests were used, together with theoretical calculations, to systematically investigate the free energy change in oxo and hydroxyl intermediates on TiO-BaTiO core-shell nanowires (BTO@TiO) upon polarization in different pH environments.