Co/CoO_x Nanoparticles Embedded on Carbon for Efficient Catalysis of Oxygen Evolution and Oxygen Reduction Reactions

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are important electrochemical reactions to realize clean energy technologies. Herein, we prepared a hybrid electrocatalyst consisting of Co/CoO_x nanoparticles embedded in amorphous carbon through the simple pyrolysis of cobalt-based zeolitic terephthalate frameworks. The pyrolysis temperature significantly influenced the structure morphology and catalytic behavior. Good contact between Co/CoO_x and amorphous carbon resulted in a high catalytic efficiency. The hybrid obtained under pyrolysis temperature of 600 °C exhibited the highest performance for OER, offering a stable current density of 10 mA cm^-2 at 277 mV in basic media. Besides good OER behavior, it also showed good ORR performance [onset potential: ∼0.87 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), diffusion-limiting current density: ∼4.9 mA cm^-2 ]. This work describes a novel and efficient catalyst, and greatly expands the scope of low-cost Co-based electrocatalysts for various electrochemical reactions without the need for N-containing ligands.