Porous cobalt oxide nanoplates enriched with oxygen vacancies for oxygen evolution reaction

Porous cobalt oxide nanoplates enriched with oxygen vacancies are synthesized using a ligand-assisted polyol reduction method. This method enables large-scale synthesis that offers superior uniformity, solution dispersity and controllable concentration of oxygen vacancies on surface. The large surface area of porous cobalt oxide nanoplates together with enriched oxygen vacancies provide more active sites, which promote faster exchange of intermediates and more efficient electron transfer. The as prepared cobalt oxide nanoplates manifest oxygen evolution reaction (OER) overpotential as low as 306 mV at 10 mA/cm(2) in 1 M KOH, which is superior to the values of most reported Co-based electrocatalysts.