Advanced Cu3Sn and Selenized Cu3Sn@Cu Foam as Electrocatalysts for Water Oxidation under Alkaline and Near-Neutral Conditions

Water electrolysis is a field growing rapidly to replace the limited fossil fuels for harvesting energy in future. In searching of non-noble and advanced electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), here we highlight a new and advanced catalyst, selenized Cu3Sn@Cu foam, with overwhelming activity for OER under both alkaline (1 M KOH) and near-neutral (1 M NaHCO3) conditions. The catalysts were prepared by a double hydrothermal treatment where Cu3Sn is first formed which further underwent for second hydrothermal condition for selenization. For comparison, Cu7Se4@Cu foam was prepared by a hydrothermal treatment under the same protocol. The as-formed Cu3Sn@Cu foam, selenized Cu3Sn@Cu foam, and Cu7Se4@Cu foam were utilized as electrocatalysts and showed their potentiality in terms of activity and stability. In 1 M KOH, for attaining the benchmarking current density of 50 mA cm–2, selenized Cu3Sn@Cu foam required a low overpotential of 384 mV and increased charge transfer kinetics with a lower Taf...