Synthesis of ultrathin porous C3N4-modified Co3O4 nanosheets for enhanced oxygen evolution reaction

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays important roles in energy storage and conversion technologies, but the sluggish kinetics of OER may result in a large overpotential, and thus there is urgent need for the exploration of new electrocatalysts with a low overpotential and good stability. In this research, we integrate the melamine-assisted alkaline cobalt carbonate (CoCH) nanosheets pyrolysis with high-temperature solid phase fusion to construct the 1-C 3 N 4 /Co 3 O 4 /Ni foam hybrid electrode with Co 3 O 4 ultrathin porous nanosheets as the host, trace C 3 N 4 as the guest, and Ni foam (NF) as the current collector. Benefiting from the unique structure, the obtained 1-C 3 N 4 /Co 3 O 4 hybrid nanosheets can significantly reduce the charge transfer distance between the catalysts to electron collector and improve the electron transportation during the OER process. Moreover, the intimate interaction of Co 3 O 4 with C 3 N 4 can induce a charge redistribution at the interface. Consequently, the 1-C 3 N 4 /Co 3 O 4 /NF hybrid electrode exhibits an enhanced OER performance (166 mV at 10 mA•cm −2 ) and good stability, superior to the commercial RuO 2 particles and the reported transition metal-based electrocatalysts.