Synthesis of MgNiO2/CoNC-Based Ternary Metallic Dual-Active Interfacial Porous Hollow Nanocages as Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction and Oxygen Evolution Reaction Bi-Functional Electrocatalysts

Abstract

Combining the catalytic activities of an oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) into one electrocatalyst is of great significance in simultaneously prompting the charge-discharge cycles of various renewable energy storage and conversion systems, such as metal-air batteries. Herein we report a ternary metallic-based MgNiO2/CoNC porous hollow nanocage composite, which was assembled with intimate contacted MgNiO2 and Co species to form ultrathin nanocage shells and serve as the ORR and OER active components, respectively, to produce a highly bi-functional catalytic performance. The possible synergy of each seamlessly connected metallic site renders the hybrid material with excellent ORR and OER activities, which outperform the corresponding benchmarks. Particularly, we speculate that such efficient catalytic activity might arise from the synergistic chemical coupling effects within MgNiO2/CoNC and, therefore, these results reveal promising prospects in developing multi-metallic composites toward efficient electrochemical energy devices.