Ni-Decorated Fe-/N- Co-doped Carbon Anchored on Porous Cobalt Oxide Nanowires Arrays for Efficient Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution

Abstract Due to the sluggish four-electron transfer process, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics should be speed up to achieve high energy conversion efficiency. The synergistic effect among heteroatoms of transition metals and the rational structural design are proven can effectively enhance the electrocatalytic capability. Herein, utilizing the ZIFs as precursor, we fabricate a simple nickel-decorated three-dimensional Fe-/N- co-doped carbon materials on porous cobalt oxide nanowires array. The vertically aligned N-doped carbon can facilitate the OH- adsorption, while the porous CoO together with the immersed Ni/Fe ions can increase the active sites and enhance the intrinsic electrocatalytic capability due to the synergistic effect. Therefore, the optimal electrode exhibits a low OER onset overpotential of 247.1 mV, low Tafel slope of 38.8 mV dec-1 and robust durability during 60 h test under alkaline condition. This work provides a new feasible strategy for the rational design of advanced non-precious metal electrocatalysts.