LAUSR

Abstract Hollow nanostructures with their intriguing structural features are attractive for efficient energy conversion and storage technology. Herein we report the designed construction of novel CoS2 nanoboxes by employing the Co-based zeolitic imidazolate (ZIF-67) nanocubes (NCs) as the starting template. Delicate manipulation of the template-engaged reaction time between thioacetamide (TAA) and ZIF-67 NCs leads to the formation of hollow CoS2 nanostructures. As a result of the unique nanobox structure, the optimized CoS2 nanoboxes (NBs) have an enlarged electrolyte-accessible surface, abundant mass diffusion pathways, and high structural integrity, which afford the current density of 10 mA cm−2 at a low overpotential of 290 mV for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in 1 M KOH solution. Remarkably, these CoS2 NBs could also display excellent long-term stability for more than 40 h electrochemical test in an alkaline medium, showing a class of advanced electrocatalysts for OER and beyond.