Effective tri-metal and dual-doped catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction: Amorphous Co-Mn-Ni-P-B-O nanoparticles

Abstract

Developing high-performance oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts is essential because OER is critical in metal-air battery and water splitting due to its slow kinetics. Therefore, OER catalysts are challenging for many researchers. In this study, an OER catalyst is synthesized using a simple, low-cost method. It has attractive features such as an amorphous phase and nano-sized structure, fabrication using three transition metals, and dual-doping using phosphorus (P) and boron (B). Dual-metal (CNPBO, CMPBO, NMPBO) and single-doped (CMNBO) comparison groups are prepared to confirm the efficiency of these features. The use of three transition metals and dual-doping causes metal-metal bonds to weaken, allowing the electrons to move more freely. Accordingly, synthesized Co-Mn-Ni-P-B-O nanoparticles exhibit outstanding intrinsic catalytic performance. The overpotential for j10 and the Tafel slope decreased 1.59 V and 62 mV/dec compared with the dual-metal samples (1.64 V and 96 mV/dec). © 2022 Elsevier B.V.