Engineering work functions of cobalt-doped manganese oxide based electrocatalysts for highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction
Yingze Zhou, Peiyuan Guan, Fandi Chen, Ziheng Feng, Haowei Jia, Tianyue Liang, Mengyao Li, Tao Wan, Ruoming Tian, Zhaojun Han, Dewei Chu
Abstract
The crystalline and electronic structures are two important factors for the design of electrocatalysts. In this work, Co-doped MnO electrocatalysts grown on nickel foam (NF) were prepared by a facile hydrothermal reaction, followed by H2 treatment process. The electrocatalytic performance of MnO was significantly improved after doping with Co and the Co0.1Mn0.9O-NF sample achieved excellent oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance with low overpotential (370 mV at 10 mA cm−2) and reasonable Tafel slope (85.6 mV dec-1). Significantly, the low work function was obtained in the Co0.1Mn0.9O-NF sample (4.37 eV), which could accelerate the charge transfer process of the OER activity. The excellent OER performance of the Co0.1Mn0.9O-NF sample is also attributed to the rich active sites, which improved electrical conductivity and enlarged electrochemical surface areas.