Pd Nanoparticle-Interspersed Hierarchical Copper Hydroxide@Nickel Cobalt Hydroxide Carbonate Tubular Arrays as Efficient Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

To meet the ever-growing clean energy technology, developing effective catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is imperative for boosting the efficiency of electrochemical water splitting. This work reports Pd nanoparticle-interspersed nickel cobalt hydroxide carbonate nanothorn-coated copper hydroxide nanotube arrays grown on a copper foam (CH@NCHC NT-Pd/CF) as highly efficient OER electrocatalytic electrodes. The nanothorns and open-structured nanotubes have large surface areas and plenty of active sites. Particularly, the interfacial interaction between Pd nanoparticles and NCHC nanothorns causes charge transfer and redistribution, which are highly beneficial to promoting OER. The unique 3D integrated construction also can accelerate the electron and mass transfer and improve structural stability. Owing to the above merits, CH@NCHC NT-Pd/CF shows excellent OER electrocatalytic activity and stability in alkaline solution, delivering a current density of 100 mA cm–2 at a low overpotential of 207 mV and small voltage fluctuation in 12 h of electrolysis.