MOF‐Derived CoW‐Alloy Carbon Nanotubes: A Trifunctional Electrocatalyst for Water Splitting and Zinc‐Air Battery Applications

Abstract Tungsten‐based intermetallic materials emerged as desirable alternatives for high‐cost OER, HER, and ORR catalysts due to their improved activity and stability. An N‐doped carbon nanotube containing CoW alloy was synthesized by pyrolysis of metatungstate@ZIF‐67 and melamine precursor. Thus, the synthesized CoW‐N/C catalyst shows the E10 values of oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions as 1.6 V and −0.24 V vs RHE, respectively. It is analyzed for water‐splitting performance and exhibits a cell potential of 1.79 V at 10 mA cm−2, which is comparable with Pt/C and RuO2 catalysts combination. The water electrolysis was performed using a chronopotentiometric experiment at 10 mA cm−2 for 20 h. Besides, the catalyst shows the oxygen reduction activity with the Eonset of 0.93 V vs RHE and was analyzed for its performance in the zinc‐air battery. Interestingly, the catalysts yield the maximum power density of 111.3 mW cm−2, which is better than the benchmark catalysts (Pt/C + RuO2). Thus, the CoW‐containing N‐doped carbon catalysts behave as trifunctional. This study highlights the multifunctional activity of CoW alloy catalysts across diverse electrochemical reactions, emphasizing their promising applications in energy storage devices and electrolyzers.