Interface Coupling of Ni–Co Layered Double Hydroxide Nanowires and Cobalt-Based Zeolite Organic Frameworks for Efficient Overall Water Splitting

Hydrogen is a source of sustainable and clean energy poised to replace fossil fuels. Bifunctional electrocatalysts are actively pursued to simultaneously drive the two key reactions, hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), for hydrogen production by electrolysis water. One of the most promising candidates based on bimetallic layered double hydroxide salts (LHSs) and cobalt-based organic framework (ZIF-67) suffer from poor interface coupling. Herein, we present a new approach based on fusing NiCo LHSs nanowire arrays with ZIF-67 to fabricate three-dimensional flower-like structures on a Ni–Fe foam support. To improve interfacial coupling and catalytic performance, simple oxidation, carbonization, sulfurization, and selenization are performed to study the effects of different post-treatments and discover the optimum bifunctional electrocatalysts. The optimized S-doped catalyst reveals the highest electrocatalytic characteristic quantified by the low overpotentials of 170 and 100 mV for OER and HER at 10 mA cm–2 in 1 M KOH, respectively. This outstanding electrocatalytic property is ascribed to strong interfacial coupling between the NiCo-LHSs and ZIF-67 derivatives, as well as the rational electronic structures, dense catalytic active sites, and large specific surface area. This work opens new prospects for fabricating efficient and low-cost electrocatalysts for renewable hydrogen energy production.