The development of highly efficient and stable bifunctional catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is important for the practical application of water splitting technologies. Herein, heterostructured Co(CO3)0.5(OH)·0.11H2O@CoSe nanowire arrays supported on nickel foam (CCH@CoSe/NF) are successfully fabricated using a simple and facile two‐step hydrothermal method as efficient bifunctional catalysts for overall water splitting in alkaline media. The optimized CCH@CoSe/NF catalytic electrode exhibits an excellent OER activity with a low overpotential of 255 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and superior stability and HER activity with a low overpotential of 128 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and superior stability after 1000 cyclic voltammetry cycles. The defect‐rich heterojunction structure of the catalyst and the NF substrate are helpful to enhance the catalytic activity of a catalyst and the electron migration ability. Significantly, the cell based on bifunctional CCH@CoSe/NF//CCH@CoSe/NF electrodes shows highly efficient overall water electrolysis with a low potential of 1.638 V at 10 mA cm−2 in an alkaline electrolyte and maintains a good stability, indicating that the as‐prepared CCH@CoSe/NF electrodes show a promising potential in the practical overall water splitting electrocatalysis.
Exploitation of the efficient and highly stable catalytic performance provided by bi‐functional catalysts is important for practical water splitting. Herein, Co3O4@Ni3Se4 core‐shell nanorod arrays on nickel foam (Co3O4@Ni3Se4/NF) are successfully synthesized as long‐term and efficient bi‐functional catalysts for water splitting in 1.0 M KOH. The satisfactory Co3O4@Ni3Se4/NF catalyst exhibits excellent activity with low overpotentials of 260 mV and 180 mV at 10 mA cm−2 for OER and HER, respectively. In addition, its overpotential is only higher than the initial overpotential within 10 mV when the Co3O4@Ni3Se4/NF has been used after 30 hours at OER and HER. Significantly, the cell based on bi‐functional Co3O4@Ni3Se4/NF||Co3O4@Ni3Se4/NF couple shows a low potential of 1.735 V at 10 mA cm−2 in alkaline electrolyte and remains a current density of 10 mA cm−2 for 30 hours without serious attenuation, indicating that the as‐prepared catalyst has huge potential in practical water splitting.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.