Construction of Core-Shell CoMoO₄@γ-FeOOH Nanosheets for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) occurs at the anode in numerous electrochemical reactions and plays an important role due to the nature of proton-coupled electron transfer. However, the high voltage requirement and low stability of the OER dramatically limits the total energy converting efficiency. Recently, electrocatalysts based on multi-metal oxyhydroxides have been reported as excellent substitutes for commercial noble metal catalysts due to their outstanding OER activities. However, normal synthesis routes lead to either the encapsulation of excessively active sites or aggregation during the electrolysis. To this end, we design a novel core-shell structure integrating CoMoO₄ as support frameworks covered with two-dimensional γ-FeOOH nanosheets on the surface. By involving CoMoO₄, the electrochemically active surface area is significantly enhanced. Additionally, Co atoms immerge into the γ-FeOOH nanosheet, tuning its electronic structure and providing additional active sites. More importantly, the catalysts exhibit excellent OER catalytic performance, reducing overpotentials to merely 243.1 mV a versus 10 mA cm^-2. The current strategy contributes to advancing the frontiers of new types of OER electrocatalysts by applying a proper support as a multi-functional platform.