When Layered Nickel–Cobalt Silicate Hydroxide Nanosheets Meet Carbon Nanotubes: A Synergetic Coaxial Nanocable Structure for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 945 - 951
• Main Authors: Qiu, Ce, Jiang, Jing, Ai, Lunhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 13.01.2016
• Subjects: electrocatalyst; carbon nanotube; water oxidation; oxygen evolution; nickel−cobalt silicate hydroxide
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b10634

Developing robust earth-abundant electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is an ongoing scientific challenge, which is coupled with a number of important electrochemical processes and many key renewable energy systems, such as water splitting, rechargeable metal–air batteries, and regenerative fuel cells. Here, we proposed a rational design and fabrication of the synergetic coaxial nanocable structures by intimate growth of the layered nickel–cobalt silicate hydroxide nanosheets on the outer surfaces of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs@NCS) and demonstrated their high efficiency in electrocatalytic OER from water splitting. The electrocatalytic activities of the MWCNTs@NCS were found to be significantly higher than that of bare NCS and pristine MWCNTs, synergetically determining by such the constituted individual components. Among them, the MWCNTs@NCS-2 exhibited best electrocatalytic OER performance, showing a small OER onset potential, large anodic current and long-term durability, which was favorably comparable to the previously reported NiCo-based OER electrocatalysts in alkaline electrolytes. To the best of our knowledge, this was a first example on the earth-abundant metal silicate hydroxides utilized in electrochemical water splitting.