A Hierarchical CuO Nanowire@CoFe-Layered Double Hydroxide Nanosheet Array as a High-Efficiency Seawater Oxidation Electrocatalyst

Seawater electrolysis has great potential to generate clean hydrogen energy, but it is a formidable challenge. In this study, we report CoFe-LDH nanosheet uniformly decorated on a CuO nanowire array on Cu foam (CuO@CoFe-LDH/CF) for seawater oxidation. Such CuO@CoFe-LDH/CF exhibits high oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalytic activity, demanding only an overpotential of 336 mV to generate a current density of 100 mA cm(-2) in alkaline seawater. Moreover, it can operate continuously for at least 50 h without obvious activity attenuation.

Automated summary

In this study, we developed a CuO nanowire array on Cu foam decorated with CoFe-LDH nanosheet (CuO@CoFe-LDH/CF) for efficient seawater oxidation. The CuO@CoFe-LDH/CF electrode exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity for oxygen evolution reaction, requiring a low overpotential of 336 mV to achieve a high current density of 100 mA cm(-2) in alkaline seawater. Moreover, it demonstrated good stability with continuous operation for at least 50 hours without significant activity attenuation.