Metal Atom-Doped Co₃ O₄ Hierarchical Nanoplates for Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution

Electrocatalysts based on hierarchically structured and heteroatom-doped non-noble metal oxide materials are of great importance for efficient and low-cost electrochemical water splitting systems. Herein, the synthesis of a series of hierarchical hollow nanoplates (NPs) composed of ultrathin Co₃ O₄ nanosheets doped with 13 different metal atoms is reported. The synthesis involves a cooperative etching-coordination-reorganization approach starting from zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 (ZIF-67) NPs. First, metal atom decorated ZIF-67 NPs with unique cross-channels are formed through a Lewis acid etching and metal species coordination process. Afterward, the composite NPs are converted to hollow Co₃ O₄ hierarchical NPs composed of ultrathin nanosheets through a solvothermal reaction, during which the guest metal species is doped into the octahedral sites of Co₃ O₄ . Density functional theory calculations suggest that doping of small amount of Fe atoms near the surface of Co₃ O₄ can greatly enhance the electrocatalytic activity toward the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Benefiting from the structural and compositional advantages, the obtained Fe-doped Co₃ O₄ hierarchical NPs manifest superior electrocatalytic performance for OER with an overpotential of 262 mV at 10 mA cm^-2 , a Tafel slope of 43 mV dec^-1 , and excellent stability even at a high current density of 100 mA cm^-2 for 50 h.