Oxygen reduction activity on perovskite oxide surfaces: a comparative first-principle study of LaMnO₃, LaFeO₃ and LaCrO₃

The understanding of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity on perovskite oxide surfaces is essential for promising future fuel cell applications. We report a comparative study of ORR mechanisms on La$B$O$_3$ ($B$=Mn, Fe, Cr) surfaces by first-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT). Results obtained from varied DFT methods such as generalized gradient approximation(GGA), GGA+$U$ and the hybrid Hartree-Fock density functional method are reported for comparative purposes. We find that the results calculated from hybrid-functional method suggest that the order of ORR activity is LaMnO$_3$ $>$ LaCrO$_3$ $>$ LaFeO$_3$, which is in better agreement with recent experimental results (Suntivich \textit{et al.}, Nature Chemistry 3, 546 (2011)) than those using the GGA or GGA+$U$ method.