Improving the electrocatalytic performance of sustainable Co/carbon materials for the oxygen evolution reaction by ultrasound and microwave assisted synthesis

Abstract

The design of sustainable procedures for the preparation of cobalt/carbon-based materials as an anode for hydrogen fuel production through electrocatalytic water splitting has attracted much interest in the last few years. Herein, a novel environmentally friendly approach for the development of stable and active catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is reported. In detail, the methodology aimed at developing a sequence of composites having a low cobalt loading ( MW/US > MW > conventional heating, with the best sample requiring an overpotential of 365 mV to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm(-2) and a Tafel slope of 58 mV dec(-1).