A one-pot hydrothermal synthesis of morphologically controllable yolk-shell structured CoFe glycerate spheres for oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract

CoFe-based catalysts are efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline media. Here, we present a simple one-pot hydrothermal method for synthesizing a series of CoFe glycerates with controllable surface morphologies and investigate their potential as highly efficient catalysts for the OER in alkaline media. These CoFe glycerates exhibit a unique yolk-shell microsphere structure assembled from ultrathin nanosheets. The adjustment of the surface nanosheet size is achieved by varying the CoFe ratio, ensuring a more efficient electrocatalytic system for the OER process. Due to the abundant active sites provided by the yolk-shell structure and interleaved ultrathin nanosheets, Co3Fe1 glycerate (Co3Fe1 gly) demonstrates a low overpotential (283 mV) and a small Tafel slope (44.61 mV dec−1) at 10 mA cm−2. Additionally, Co3Fe1 gly exhibits excellent durability in alkaline electrolytes. Moreover, a series of characterizations demonstrate that the active sites of Co3Fe1 gly are the high-valence Co species generated during the OER process. This study opens a promising avenue for utilizing efficient and low-cost electrocatalysts to enhance OER performance.