Constructing an efficient electrocatalyst for water oxidation: an Fe-doped CoO/Co catalyst enabled by in situ MOF growth and a solvent-free strategy

• Published in: Dalton transactions : an international journal of inorganic chemistry 2023-11, Vol.52 (43), p.15928-15934
• Main Authors: Liu, Sanmei, Yang, Yanping, Zhong, Minli, Li, Shengchen, Shi, Shunli, Xiao, Weimin, Wang, Shuhua, Chen, Chao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Catalysts; Chemical synthesis; Cobalt; Electrical resistivity; Electrocatalysts; Energy conversion; Ethanol; Iron; Metal-organic frameworks; Moisture content; Oxidation; Oxygen evolution reactions; Solvents
• ISSN: 1477-9226; 1477-9234
• DOI: 10.1039/d3dt02699j

The development of non-precious metal electrocatalysts with high activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a crucial and challenging task. In this work, we proposed a solvent-free in situ metal–organic framework (MOF) growth strategy for the fabrication of an Fe-doped CoO/Co electrocatalyst. This approach not only partially granted the MOF's porous structure to the catalyst but also resulted in a tighter combination between the Co metal and CoO, thereby enhancing its electrical conductivity. Furthermore, this method enabled the Fe species to be more uniformly dispersed on CoO/Co, which significantly exposed more active sites for efficient electrocatalysis. The entire synthesis process was solvent-free, except for a small amount of water and ethanol used during catalyst washing. The as-synthesized Fe-CoO/Co electrocatalyst exhibited superior OER activity on a glass carbon electrode, with η = 276 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm −2 , even higher than that of the commercial precious IrO 2 /C catalyst. Additionally, it was also extended to prepare a Ni-doped CoO/Co electrocatalyst by the same procedure with satisfactory OER performance. This work presents a new preparation approach for MOF-derived catalysts with potential applications in energy conversion and beyond.