LAUSR

Abstract Electrochemical water-splitting is an environmentally friendly and sustainable means of producing oxygen and hydrogen gases. However, the high cost and poor stability of conventional electrocatalysts, which are based on precious metals, hinder the large-scale commercialization of this technique. Therefore, the current research demands development of highly active catalysts which do not require any precious metal. Herein, we report the fabrication of a Co(OH)2 electrocatalyst on a metallic Cu film supported on a Ni foam substrate. The developed electrocatalyst has dense Co(OH)2 nano-flakes on the Cu film and exhibits excellent performance towards the oxygen evolution reaction in an alkaline solution. A current density of 10 mA/cm2 can be achieved at an overpotential of 325 mV and the catalyst has a small Tafel slope value of only 77 mV/dec. In addition, the catalytic reaction remains stable for 20 h of chronoamperometry test without any noticeable decay. The promising catalytic performance of this catalyst is attributed to the synergistic effect between the Co(OH)2 electrocatalyst and the Cu-modified Ni foam.