Synthesis of ultrathin porous C3N4-modified Co3O4 nanosheets for enhanced oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays important roles in energy storage and conversion technologies, but the sluggish kinetics of OER may result in a large overpotential, and thus there is urgent need for the exploration of new electrocatalysts with a low overpotential and good stability. In this research, we integrate the melamine-assisted alkaline cobalt carbonate (CoCH) nanosheets pyrolysis with high-temperature solid phase fusion to construct the 1-C3N4/Co3O4/Ni foam hybrid electrode with Co3O4 ultrathin porous nanosheets as the host, trace C3N4 as the guest, and Ni foam (NF) as the current collector. Benefiting from the unique structure, the obtained 1-C3N4/Co3O4 hybrid nanosheets can significantly reduce the charge transfer distance between the catalysts to electron collector and improve the electron transportation during the OER process. Moreover, the intimate interaction of Co3O4 with C3N4 can induce a charge redistribution at the interface. Consequently, the 1-C3N4/Co3O4/NF hybrid electrode exhibits an enhanced OER performance (166 mV at 10 mA•cm−2) and good stability, superior to the commercial RuO2 particles and the reported transition metal-based electrocatalysts.