Constructing FeCoSe2/Co0.85Se heterostructure catalysts for efficient oxygen evolution

The slow kinetics and high cost of noble metal catalysts greatly hinder the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in the application of large-scale oxygen production, as well as water splitting. In order to overcome this burgeoning issue, worldwide research efforts have been carried out to find alternative, and efficient electrocatalysts . Due to its cheap and abundant sources, FeCo-based materials are considered as better candidate electrocatalysts for OER. Herein, a nanocomposite catalyst consisting of FeCoSe 2 nanoparticles and Co 0.85 Se nanosheets was synthesized via a one-pot hydrothermal method . The resultant FeCoSe 2 /Co 0.85 Se heterostructure catalysts can further used as a self-supported catalytic electrode to drive the OER, which exhibits the overpotential of 0.33 V at a current density of 10 mA cm −2 and Tafel slope of 50.8 mV dec −1 . Raman spectroscopy was employed to explore the intrinsic active species of as-prepared hybrid catalyst during the OER process, and test result shows that metal selenides was acting as the precursor of the real reaction species. This work provides a possibility to develop cheap and effective OER electrocatalysts to replace the costly noble metal catalysts for OER in electrochemical devices .