The CoFe-LDH/CuCo2O4 composite as an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst under alkaline conditions for overall water splitting

To reduce energy crises and environmental pollution, it is imperative to logically create affordable, stable, efficient, and environmentally friendly bifunctional electrocatalysts based on non-precious metals for total water splitting. In this study, we designed and synthesized sea urchin-like structured CoFe/CuCo2O4 bifunctional electrocatalysts on nickel foam. Benefiting from the high conductivity of nickel foam and the positive synergistic effect between different component materials, this catalyst exhibited high activity in both oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Specifically, the CoFe/CuCo2O4/NF-5 material required only 257 mV of OER overpotential and 178 mV of HER overpotential at a current density of 50 mA cm(-2). It is worth noting that the alkaline electrolyzer prepared using CoFe/CuCo2O4/NF-5 material achieves a low cell voltage of 1.544 V to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm(-2 )in overall water splitting and can operate stably for a prolonged period. This work also provides a feasible strategy for green and low-cost electrocatalyst synthesis.