Copper Selenide–Derived Copper Oxide Nanoplates as a Durable and Efficient Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction
Xiaoxiao Wang, Xiyan Hou, Husileng Lee, Liangjie Lu, Xiujuan Wu, Licheng Sun
Abstract
Earth‐abundant transition metal–based nanomaterials play a significant role in oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Among them, copper has attracted significant attention due to its excellent electrocatalytic activity, low price, and abundance. Herein, a nanostructured copper oxide (CuO‐A) is generated in situ from a cuprous selenide (Cu 2 Se) precursor under oxygen evolution reaction conditions. The as‐prepared CuO‐A/copper foam (CF) electrode delivers a current density of 10 mA cm −2 at an overpotential of 297 mV with good stability for over 50 h in 1 m KOH solution, which is superior to most recently reported copper‐based water oxidation catalysts. The high catalytic performance of CuO‐A is mainly attributed to the improved surface area offered by the morphology reconstruction during the in situ transformation process. As a result, it paves a way to synthesize effective and stable transition metal oxide catalysts via the in situ conversion of transition metal chalcogenides for energy conversion and storage applications.