  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.
