Mesoporous manganese cobaltate: colloid assisted ethylene glycol combustion synthesis and application in efficient water oxidation

Abstract The development of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts with attractive price, robust activity, and superior durability are desirable for efficient water splitting. In the present work, a facile and fast colloid assisted ethylene glycol (EG) combustion synthesis strategy was developed to prepare mesoporous manganese cobaltate (MnCo2O4) with a large specific surface area (SSA). The as-prepared MnCo2O4 delivered a high SSA of 124.4 m2 g–1 with hierarchical mesopores in the range of 3–30 nm. It offered short diffusion paths and rich active sites, which can promote the OER catalytic activity. When applied as the electrocatalyst for OER, the mesoporous MnCo2O4 demonstrated an ultra-low overpotential of 0.24 V at 10 mA cm–2, and a moderate Tafel slope with robust durability. This work not only puts forward a novel synthetic route towards mesoporous MnCo2O4 with high SSA but also reveals its tremendous prospects in the field of electrocatalytic water oxidation.