Flower-shaped and sea urchin-shaped structures coexisting in cobalt-based phosphate and oxides achieve efficient electrochemical overall water electrolysis

Active site engineering for electrocatalysts is an essential strategy to improve their intrinsic electrocatalytic capability for practical applications and it is of great significance to develop a new excellent electrocatalyst for overall water splitting. Here, Co3O4/nickel foam (NF) and Co2(P4O12)/NF electrocatalysts with flower-shaped and sea urchin-shaped structures are synthesized by a simple hydrothermal process and followed by a post-treatment method. Among them, Co2(P4O12)/NF shows good catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), and at the current density of 10 mA cm−2, the overpotential is only 113 mV Co3O4/NF exhibits good catalytic activity for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and the overpotential is 327 mV at 20 mA cm−2. An alkaline electrolyzer with Co3O4/NF and Co2(P4O12)/NF catalysts respectively as anode and cathode displays a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at a cell voltage of 1.59 V. This work provides a simple way to prepare high efficient, low cost and rich in content promising electrocatalysts for overall water splitting.