Self-Reconstruction of Fe-Doped Co-Metal-Organic Frameworks Boosted Electrocatalytic Performance for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Rui Yu; Cheng Wang; Dongmei Liu; Xiaomei Wang; Jiongting Yin; Yukou Du

doi:10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c03929

Self-Reconstruction of Fe-Doped Co-Metal-Organic Frameworks Boosted Electrocatalytic Performance for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Inorg Chem. 2023 Jan 9;62(1):609-617. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c03929. Epub 2022 Dec 27.

Authors

Rui Yu¹, Cheng Wang¹, Dongmei Liu¹, Xiaomei Wang², Jiongting Yin¹, Yukou Du^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, 199 Renai Road, Suzhou 215123, P. R. China.
² School of Chemical Biology and Materials Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, P. R. China.
³ School of Optical and Electronic Information, Suzhou City University, Suzhou 215104, P. R. China.

PMID: 36573767
DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c03929

Abstract

Rational design of facile and low-cost efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is crucial to solve the energy crisis. Benefiting from in situ self-reconstruction from metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to (oxy)hydroxides in alkaline electrolytes, MOFs have become alternative OER catalysts. Thus, Fe-doped Co-MOF nanosheets (Co-MOF/Fe) were prepared and utilized straightforwardly as OER electrocatalysts. CoFe-layered bimetallic hydroxides (CoFe-LDHs) with abundant active sites are obtained from in situ conversion of Co-MOF/Fe after etching by the KOH electrolyte, which are generally actual active species. Meanwhile, the introduction of Fe ions will also produce a synergistic effect that greatly improves the electrocatalytic OER performance. The optimized catalyst (Co-MOF/Fe₁₀) shows exceptional OER activity (η₁₀ = 260 mV) and excellent durability over 50 h. The outstanding OER performance of Co-MOF/Fe₁₀ can also be reflected in the two-electrode hydrolyzer (1.57 V at 10 mA cm^-2). This study offers a pathway to probe the catalytic mechanism of MOFs and the rational construction of efficient MOF-derived catalysts.