Mo-doped CoFe-layered double hydroxides as an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting: Effects of different molybdenum additions on catalytic performance

The layered double hydroxides (LDHs) electrocatalysts have emerged as promising electrocatalysts for electrolytic water splitting due to their simple synthesis, high activity. However, traditional LDH-based catalysts face the low electrical conductivity and durability under electrolysis conditions. In this work, Mo–CoFe LDH was prepared by a two-step hydrothermal method, and the effect of different molybdenum content on its catalytic performance was studied. Among them, the OER and HER properties of Mo-CoFe LDH-1 are better than those of non-Mo doping. Mo–CoFe LDH-1 has the low HER and OER overpotentials are 192 mV and 134 mV, respectively at 10 mA cm −2 . In addition, using Mo–CoFe LDH-1 for water splitting can achieve a low voltage of 1.55 V at 10 mA cm −2 , and it also showed a good stability within 100 h. The excellent properties of Mo–CoFe LDH-1 is mainly due to the formation of 3D nanoflower structure and the doping of Mo element in CoFe LDH, significantly adjusting its electronic structure. This work is of great significance for the design of bifunctional LDHs-based electrocatalysts.