Co3O4 Nanocube -3DrGO Hybrid Structure: Efficient Non-Noble-Metal Electrocatalyst with High-Performance for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

Oxygen Evolution reaction (OER) by water splitting is one of the emerging technologies for the ongoing research in the field of sustainable, clean yet highly efficient energy generation. Electrocatalysis for OER is a key step forward towards achieving this goal and enormous efforts has been devoted recently on the development of high-performance electrocatalysts that are cost-effective, abundant as well as environmentally benign. Transition metal based non-noble electrocatalysts anchored on high-surface area, conductive carbonaceous support serves the dual purpose of being highly catalytically active as well as having excellent stability. Herein, we report the synthesis of Co3O4 nanocube -3DrGO hybrid structure as a high-performance electrocatalyst for OER applications via a facile hydrothermal synthesis technique followed by heat treatment. The unique nanocube like structure offers more active edge sites which plays an important role in its catalytic performance. The hybrid structure exhibits an overpotential of 428 mV (vs RHE) and a small tafel slope of 96.92 mV dec-1 with 100% faradaic efficiency in 1 M NaOH alkaline electrolyte. The electrode needs an overpotential of 648 mV to afford a current density of 10 mA cm-2. This offers a low-cost electrocatalytic electrode for water splitting and rechargeable metal–air battery applications. Figure 1