Electroreduction of small molecules such as H2O, CO2, and N2 for producing clean fuels or valuable chemicals provides a sustainable approach to meet the increasing global energy demands and to alleviate the concern on climate change resulting from fossil fuel consumption. On the path to implement this purpose, however, several scientific hurdles remain, one of which is the low energy efficiency due to the sluggish kinetics of the paired oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In response, it is highly desirable to synthesize high‐performance and cost‐effective OER electrocatalysts. Recent advances have witnessed surface reconstruction engineering as a salient tool to significantly improve the catalytic performance of OER electrocatalysts. In this review, recent progress on the reconstructed OER electrocatalysts and future opportunities are discussed. A brief introduction of the fundamentals of OER and the experimental approaches for generating and characterizing the reconstructed active sites in OER nanocatalysts are given first, followed by an expanded discussion of recent advances on the reconstructed OER electrocatalysts with improved activities, with a particular emphasis on understanding the correlation between surface dynamics and activities. Finally, a prospect for clean future energy communities harnessing surface reconstruction‐promoted electrochemical water oxidation will be provided.

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MXene-supported CoP and Co7Se8 catalysts showed enhanced water-splitting activity. The oxidation process of the anion components (P and Se) of the hybrid catalysts, under OER conditions, significantly influenced the activity and stability.

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Because of the salient impact on the performance of oxygen evolution reaction (OER), the surface dynamics of precatalysts accompanying the surface oxidation and dissolution of catalytic components demands immense research attention. Accordingly, the change in the structural integrity under high current density generally results in inconsistent OER performances. To address this challenge, here, we present the intricate design of precatalysts, strategically followed by reconstruction treatment in the presence of Fe under water oxidation condition, which significantly enhances the OER activity and long-term stability. Notably, the surface tailored heterointerface structures (Fe-doped NiOOH/CoOOH) obtained through the reconstruction of a precatalyst (Ni­(OH)2/Co9S8) with the incorporation of Fe, are abundantly enriched with electrochemically accessible high valence active sites. This results in remarkable OER activity (400 mA cm–2 at 345 mV). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that Fe-incorporated electrocatalysts give optimal binding energies of OER intermediates and show substantially reduced overpotential compared to Fe-undoped electrocatalysts.

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