Improving oxygen evolution reaction activity by constructing core-shell structure of Co/N-doped carbon polyhedron@NiCo layered double hydroxides

Abstract A novel core-shell structure of Co/N-doped carbon polyhedron@NiCo layered double hydroxides (Co/NCP@NiCo-LDHs) was designed and synthesized. Except for the advantages of core-shell structure of the electronic redistribution at the heterostructure and exposure of numerous active sites, metallic Co encapsulated into NCP was proved to be crucial to fine-tune the electronic transfer between NCP and NiCo-LDHs. The above merits rendered Co/NCP@NiCo-LDHs with improved oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity with a low overpotential of 277 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in 1 M KOH solution, which is much better than the Co/NCP, NiCo-LDHs and NCP@NiCo-LDHs, and showed quite high durability. This strategy is demonstrated to be a reliable approach for improving the catalytic efficiency of LDHs catalysts.