Facile Synthesis of Sulfur-Containing Transition Metal (Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) (Hydr)oxides for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

Transition metal based materials are promising non-noble metal based catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Transition metal (hydr)oxides have been intensively investigated as OER catalysts. Promoting transition metal (hydr)oxides with heteroatoms or using carbon materials as additives can increase the electric conductivity and tailor the nature of active sites to enhance OER activity. We developed a scalable one-step wet chemical method to prepare sulfur-containing transition metal (manganese, iron, cobalt, and nickel) (hydr)oxides coupled with carbon nanotubes as additives to tailor OER performance. Facilitated OER kinetics, enhanced intrinsic activity, and high electrochemically active surface area derived from sulfur promotion with/without carbon nanotubes addition together with the nanostructure of the materials led to decent OER performance. Sulfur-containing cobalt (hydr)oxide achieved a low overpotential of 0.38 V at 10 mA cm−2, a low Tafel slope of 66 mV dec−1, and good stability.