Deep reconstruction of Ni-doped CoOOH under industrial conditions for efficient oxygen evolution

Hydrogen production by water electrolysis is considered to be economical and environmentally friendly. Encouraging the reconstruction of electrocatalysts during the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which produces a large number of active species with high activity, might be viewed as a promising technique for increased activity. In this work, thermally induced complete reconstructions (TICR) are used to create (oxy)hydroxide with low crystallinity and abundant boundary/vacancy from molybdate precatalysts. The obtained Ni-doped CoOOH (CMO1200-90/NF) with boundary/vacancy demonstrates the efficient electrocatalytic activity for OER. An oxygen precipitation overpotential of 299 mV (100 mA cm−2) is exhibited, while the durability of this structure is verified in a strong corrosive environment (1 M KOH) with a long-term stability of 100 h. Compared with Ni-doped CoMoO4 precatalyst, the overpotential is reduced by 102 mV at 100 mA cm−2. During the hydrothermal process, trace amounts of Ni elements are doped and have a synergistic effect with Co to induce the modulation of electronic structure. This work investigates the phenomenon of thermally induced and highlights the commercial potential of deep reconstruction catalysts in high-temperature water electrolysis.