Well-connection of micro-platinum and cobalt oxide flower array with optimized water dissociation and hydrogen recombination for efficient overall water splitting

Integrating the merits of various catalytic materials into one novel hybrid is significant yet challenging in developing multifunctional electrode for overall water splitting. In this work, micro-platinum modification strategy is developed to construct the bifunctional Pt@Co3O4/Ni foam (NF) hybrid electrode for overall water splitting. The resultant Pt@Co3O4/NF electrode exhibits low overpotentials and favorable kinetics for both hydrogen (30 mV@10 mA cm(-2), 31 mV dec(-1)) and oxygen evolution (263 mV@10 mA cm(-2), 69 mV dec(-1)). Moreover, a voltage of -1.53 V can drive a current density of 10 mA cm(-2) for the two-electrode electrolyzer. The enhanced performance of Pt@Co3O4/NF hybrid could be attributed to the synergistic effect of micro-Pt modified Co3O4 nanorod array with the optimized water cleavage and hydrogen recombination. This work not only reports an efficient hybrid electrode for overall water splitting but also offers valuable insights in designing multifunctional electrocatalysts for energy conversion technologies.