Bimetallic nickel-cobalt oxalate as highly efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction

Developing highly active and non-noble-metal electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is expected to accomplish efficient water splitting hydrogen production and promote the commercial utilization of hydrogen energy. We in-situ fabricated bimetallic NiC₂O₄-Co electrocatalyst on nickel foam (NF) by a facile one-step solvothermal method in this work. NiC₂O₄-Co1 self-supported electrocatalyst presents superb OER performance with a low overpotential of 278 mV at 10 mA/cm² and a Tafel slope of 65 mV/dec, accompanied by excellent stability in 1 mol/L KOH electrolyte. The superior catalytic activity of bimetallic NiC₂O₄-Co electrocatalyst is attributed to optimized electronic structure, high specific surface area, rapid interfacial charge transfer and the synergistic effect between Ni sites and Co sites during OER process.