Laser assisted oxygen vacancy engineering on Fe doped CoO nanoparticles for oxygen evolution at large current density

Abstract

Exploring cost-effective non-noble metal-based catalysts with high activity and stability is of great significance for energy conversion and storage involving oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Here, we employed a laser irradiation technique to synthesis Fe doped CoO nanoparticles with ultrafine size (≈ 5.4 nm) and abundant oxygen vacancies (Fe-Ov-CoO). The ultrafine size of Fe-Ov-CoO nanoparticles provides more active sites to be exposed. Fe doping and oxygen vacancy promote the intrinsic activity and electron transfer rates of Fe-Ov-CoO, giving rise to high activity and stability catalyst for OER. Fe-Ov-CoO delivers a large current density of 1000 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of 548 mV, which is much better than commercial RuO2. Moreover, Fe-Ov-CoO presents a remarkable long-term stability with negligible degeneration at a high current density of 500 mA cm−2 for 120 h. This work provides a new route to develop OER electrocatalyst with high activity and stability.