ZIF-67 Derived Co-LDH Nanocubes for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

To address the substantial energy needs of the quickly evolving modern civilization, efforts are still needed to provide sustainable renewable energy sources. The electrocatalytic Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is one of the essential technologies used in the various hydrogen production techniques. ZIF-67 nanocubes (ZIF-67 NCs) were synthesized in an aqueous solution and used as sacrificial templates. Cobalt nitrate hexahydrate was added under water bath conditions, resulting in the evolution of numerous small layered layers of cobalt hydroxide. This ultimately led to the formation of multilayered, three-dimensionally crosslinked Co-LDH with a porous networked cubic morphology. Hydrolysis of Co2+ at different concentrations produces different degrees of weak acidic environments, and the loose LDH on the cubic structure of the best catalyst, Co-LDH-1, exposes more active cobalt sites for the OER, which results in a high electrochemically active surface area, with an overpotential of 354 mV and a Tafel slope of 79.06 mV dec−1 at a current density of 10 mA cm−2, and good stability and low activation under alkaline condition also has good stability and low activation energy. It provides us an easy and practical plan for logically creating ZIF-derived hydroxide materials, leading to the development of affordable and effective electrocatalysts.