Core-skin Co@NiCo-LDH as an efficient Mott-Schottky electrocatalyst for biomass upgrading coupled with hydrogen evolution

Biomass upgrading offers a promising approach to reducing reliance on petroleum. Furthermore, integrating biomass conversion with hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) provides a means to simultaneously produce sustainable chemicals and energy. However, achieving industrial-scale current densities at lower potentials remains a significant challenge. Drawing inspiration from the Mott-Schottky heterojunction interface and its ability to modify energy levels, this work presents a novel core-skin structure Co@NiCo-LDH catalyst synthesized through in-situ growth and corrosion engineering. The designed catalyst demonstrated remarkable performance, requiring a potential of only 1.336 V to achieve 100 mA·cm−2 in 1 M KOH electrolyte containing 10 mM HMF, and 1.615 V to achieve 1000 mA·cm−2 in the presence of 100 mM HMF. Notably, the Co@NiCo-LDH exhibited exceptional structural and catalytic stability. Additionally, it displays excellent catalytic activity for both HMF electrooxidation and HER, with a H2 production rate of 216.3 μmol·cm−2·h−1 in a two-electrode cell.