Coordination polymer derived cobalt embedded in nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes for efficient electrocatalysis of oxygen evolution reaction

In this paper, we reported the fabrication of Co-embedded nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube (Co-NCNT) by using Co-melamine coordination polymer (CP) as precursor. The sample was well characterized via SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS and BET methods. The Co-NCNT shows excellent and stable catalytic performance for OER. The overpotential of Co-NCNT at 10 mA cm(-2). is 370 mV (vs RHE). The current density of Co-NCNT could reach 100 mA cm(-2) at overpotential of 520 mV, which showed much better performance than RuO2, while the largest current density of RuO2 could reach is only 44 mA cm(-2). The Tafel slope of Co-NCNT is 56 mV dec(-1), which is smaller than that of commercial RuO2 (58 mV dec(-1)). The results indicate that metal-melamine based CPs or MOFs can be promising precursors for the preparation of efficient metal-embedded nitrogen-doped carbon materials for electrocatalysis.