Electronic Modulation of Electrocatalytically Active Center of Cu₇S₄ Nanodisks by Cobalt-Doping for Highly Efficient...

Cu-based electrocatalysts have seldom been studied for water oxidation because of their inferior activity and poor stability regardless of their low cost and environmentally benign nature. Therefore, exploring an efficient way to improve the activity of Cu-based electrocatalysts is very important for their practical application. Modifying electronic structure of the electrocatalytically active center of electrocatalysts by metal doping to favor the electron transfer between catalyst active sites and electrode is an important approach to optimize hydrogen and oxygen species adsorption energy, thus leading to the enhanced intrinsic electrocatalytic activity. Herein, Co-doped Cu₇S₄ nanodisks were synthesized and investigated as highly efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) due to the optimized electronic structure of the active center. Density-functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that Co-engineered Cu₇S₄ could accelerate electron transfer between Co and Cu sites, thus decrease the energy barriers of intermediates and products during OER, which are crucial for enhanced catalytic properties. As expected, Co-engineered Cu₇S₄ nanodisks exhibit a low overpotential of 270 mV to achieve current density of 10 mA cm^-2 as well as decreased Tafel slope and enhanced turnover frequencies as compared to bare Cu₇S₄. This discovery not only provides low-cost and efficient Cu-based electrocatalyst by Co doping, but also exhibits an in-depth insight into the mechanism of the enhanced OER properties.