Fe-doped Co3O4 anchored on hollow carbon nanocages for efficient electrocatalytic oxygen evolution

In this work, a Fe-doped Co3O4 OER electrocatalyst supported by an N-doped hollow nanocage carbon framework (Fe-Co3O4/NC) was successfully prepared by anion exchange and annealing in an air atmosphere strategy. XRD and HRTEM characterizations confirm that Fe the incorporation of Fe into the lattice of Co3O4. XPS characterization clarifies that the valence state of Co increases after the introduction of Fe, which originates from the electrons transfer from Co2+/Co3+ to Fe3+ and is induced by the valence electron configuration of cations. It simulates Co sites in-situ derived into CoOOH active species during the OER process, which is confirmed by the HRTEM and XPS characterization after the OER stability test. Electrochemical performance tests show that the Fe-Co3O4/NC electrocatalyst only exhibits 275 mV overpotential to achieve a current density of 10 mA/cm2 and stably maintains for 20 h at 100 mA/cm2. Together with 20% Pt/C electrocatalyst, the composed two-electrode system only needs 2.041 V applied potential to achieve 100 mA/cm2 for total water splitting in a self-made membrane electrode device, which has industrial application prospects.