Oxygen-vacancies-rich CeOx/TbCoP nanoparticles for enhanced electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction

The construction of highly active non-precious metal-based oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts is demanded in energy storage applications, such as fuel cells, water splitting and metal-air batteries. In this study, CeOx/TbCoP electrocatalysts were obtained by hydrothermal hydrolysis of metal precursors, followed by phosphorylation. Rich oxygen vacancies were formed after doping of rare earth metal element, which improved the electron transfer efficiency, and enhanced the catalytic activity and stability. In alkaline electrolyte (1 M KOH), CeOx/TbCoP exhibited outstanding OER performance, with overpotentials of only 358 mV and 372 mV at current densities of 50 mA cm-2 and 100 mA cm-2, respectively. A Tafel slope as low as 43 mV dec- 1, and the turnover frequency (TOF) is as high as 0.101 s-1. Additionally, the catalysts demonstrated negligible decay during the 100 h durability test at 10 mA cm-2. These exciting results indicate that CeOx/TbCoP is a highlypromising electrocatalyst for water splitting.