Self‐Templated Fabrication of CoO–MoO2 Nanocages for Enhanced Oxygen Evolution

• Published in: Advanced functional materials Vol. 27; no. 34
• Main Authors: Lyu, Fenglei, Bai, Yaocai, Li, Zhiwei, Xu, Wenjing, Wang, Qingfa, Mao, Jing, Wang, Li, Zhang, Xiangwen, Yin, Yadong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 13.09.2017; Wiley
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide; Charge transfer; cobalt oxides; Energy conversion; Energy storage; Evolution; MATERIALS SCIENCE; molybdenum dioxide; nanocages; oxygen evolution reaction; Reaction kinetics; Water splitting; ZIF-67
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201702324

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays a key role in energy conversion and storage processes such as water splitting and carbon dioxide reduction. However, the sluggish kinetics caused by insufficient active surface and limited charge transfer hinder OER's wide applications. In this work, a novel self‐templating strategy for the fabrication of composite CoO–MoO2 nanocages with enhanced OER performance is proposed. By designing a nanocage structure and incorporating conductive MoO2 to promote both mass and charge transfer, high OER activity (η = 312 mV at 10 mA cm−2) as well as good stability in the resulting CoO–MoO2 composite nanostructure can be achieved. This versatile synthetic strategy can also be extended to other metals (such as W) to provide greater opportunities for the controlled fabrication of mixed metal oxide nanostructures for electrochemical applications. A novel self‐templating strategy is developed for the fabrication of composite CoO–MoO2 nanocages with enhanced oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance. The enhanced OER performance can be attributed to the enlarged electrochemically active surface area and favorable charge transfer due to the incorporation of Mo species. This strategy provides great opportunities for the design and synthesis of mixed metal oxides for electrochemical applications.