Facile synthesis of ultrathin Co5(O9.48H8.52)NO3 nanosheets and their electric-field assisted transformation into a defect-rich Co3O4/CoOOH heterostructure for efficient oxygen evolution

Abstract

Facile preparation of low-cost electrocatalysts for an efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is significant but remains a big challenge. Herein, a novel and facile strategy for transforming intrinsic non-stoichiometric ultrathin Co₅(O_9.48H_8.52)NO₃ nanosheets into oxygen-vacancy enriched Co₃O₄/CoOOH heterostructure nanosheets for an efficient OER was developed. The as-synthesized Co₃O₄/CoOOH heterostructure nanosheets displayed excellent OER performances, showing an extremely low overpotential of 260 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm⁻², a relatively small Tafel slope of 52 mV dec⁻¹, and a long-term durability of at least 20 h. This work provides a new way for the production of oxygen vacancies on metal (oxy)hydroxide nanosheets through electric-field assisted in situ transformation of non-stoichiometric metal oxyhydroxide nanosheets.