NiO nanoparticles decorated pine needle-liked CuO as efficient electrocatalysts to boost methanol oxidation reaction

Design and synthesis of high-performance and low-cost electrocatalysts for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) are of great significance in energy conversion applications. In this work, g-NiO/CuO composites with high catalytic performance for MOR are successfully synthesized by a template method using g-C 3 N 4 flakes as the sacrificial template. NiO nanoparticles are dispersed uniformly on the surface of the pine needle-liked CuO substrate, resulting in a synergistic effect which can enhance the electrocatalytic MOR activity and stability of g-NiO/CuO catalysts. The catalyst shows a maximum peak current density of 159 mA cm −2 and also long-term stability. The bimetal-oxide-synergistic strategy in this work highlights a promising way for the design of catalysts with high electrochemical performance for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs).