Facile synthesis of copper sulfides on copper foam as an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract Nano-structured Cu2S catalyst was successfully fabricated on copper foam (Cu2S-CF) via a facile method. The SEM results demonstrated that the Cu2S possessed nanoparticle- and nanoflake-shaped, which are effective in supplying more surface reactive sites and enhancing the ions transfer rate during the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) process. Compared to other Cu2S-CF catalysts, the electrocatalytic results indicate that the optimized 6-Cu2S-CF catalyst exhibits a remarkable OER activity of 332 mV at 10 mA cm−2 (is near by IrO2, i.e., 309 mV). The outstanding catalytic performance is attributed to the optimized morphology that provide lots of surface reaction sites and offer more charge transfer pathway during the OER process.