Efficient Overall Water‐Splitting Electrocatalysis Using Lepidocrocite VOOH Hollow Nanospheres

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie International Edition Vol. 56; no. 2; pp. 573 - 577
• Main Authors: Shi, Huanhuan, Liang, Hanfeng, Ming, Fangwang, Wang, Zhoucheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 09.01.2017
• Edition: International ed. in English
• Subjects: electrocatalysis; hollow nanostructures; hydrogen evolution reaction; Hydrogen evolution reactions; Nanospheres; oxide/hydroxide materials; oxygen evolution reaction; Oxygen evolution reactions; Splitting; Water splitting; oxygen evolution reaction; oxide/hydroxide materials; electrocatalysis; hollow nanostructures; hydrogen evolution reaction
• ISSN: 1433-7851; 1521-3773
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201610211

Herein we report the control synthesis of lepidocrocite VOOH hollow nanospheres and further their applications in electrocatalytic water splitting for the first time. By tuning the surface area of the nanospheres, the optimal performance can be achieved with low overpotentials of 270 mV for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and 164 mV for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at 10 mA cm−2 in 1 m KOH, respectively. Furthermore, when used as both the anode and cathode for overall water splitting, a low cell voltage of 1.62 V is required to reach the current density of 10 mA cm−2, making the VOOH hollow nanospheres an efficient alternative to water splitting. Overall water splitting: Layered lepidocrocite VOOH hollow nanospheres with controllable surface area and porosity show high activity and good stability in overall water‐splitting electrocatalysis. By simply varying the reaction temperature, the surface area and thus the catalytic activity of the nanospheres can be tuned.