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Corresponding Author

Yue-Qing Wang(wangyueqing@sdu.edu.cn);
Jin-Tao Zhang(jtzhang@sdu.edu.cn)

Abstract

Water electrolysis is an available way to obtain green hydrogen. The development of highly efficient electrocatalysts is a current research hotspot for water splitting, but it remains challenging. Herein, we demonstrate the synthesis of a robust bifunctional multi-metal electrocatalysts toward water splitting via the rapid Joule-heating conversion of metal precursors. The composition and morphology were well regulated via altering the ratio of metal precursors. In particular, the trimetal MoC/FeO/CoO/carbon cloth (CC) electrode revealed the outstanding bifunctional electrocatalytic performance due to the unique composition and large electrochemical active surface area. Typically, the MoC/FeO/CoO/CC catalyst needed low overpotentials of 121 and 268 mV to reach 10 mA·cm-2 toward HER and OER in 1 mol·L-1 KOH solution, respectively. When used as both cathode and anode, a small potential of 1.69 V was required to achieve 10 mA·cm-2 for overall water splitting and an impressive stability for 25 h was observed. This facile and rapid Joule heating strategy offers guideline for rational manufacture of bimetal or multi-metal electrocatalysts toward diverse application.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, bifunctional electrocatalyst, water splitting, Joule heating

Publication Date

2022-09-28

Online Available Date

2022-08-23

Revised Date

2022-07-21

Received Date

2022-06-28

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