Oxygen-vacancies-rich CeOx/TbCoP nanoparticles for enhanced electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction

The construction of highly active non-precious metal-based oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts is demanded in energy storage applications, such as fuel cells, water splitting and metal-air batteries. In this study, CeOx/TbCoP electrocatalysts were obtained by hydrothermal hydrolysis of metal precursors, followed by phosphorylation. Rich oxygen vacancies were formed after doping of rare earth metal element, which improved the electron transfer efficiency, and enhanced the catalytic activity and stability. In alkaline electrolyte (1 M KOH), CeOx/TbCoP exhibited outstanding OER performance, with overpotentials of only 358 mV and 372 mV at current densities of 50 mA∙cm-2 and 100 mA∙cm-2, respectively. A Tafel slope as low as 43 mV∙dec−1, and the turnover frequency (TOF) is as high as 0.101 s-1. Additionally, the catalysts demonstrated negligible decay during the 100 hours durability test at 10 mA∙cm-2. These exciting results indicate that CeOx/TbCoP is a highly-promising electrocatalyst for water splitting.