High-performance Fe-Co-Sn oxide electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction

Development of robust and earth-abundant oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts is pivotal for cost-effective hydrogen production from water. We here report a sol-gel method to prepare an evenly dispersed ternary amorphous Fe-Co-Sn oxide for efficient and durable water oxidation electrocatalysis. The FeCoSnOx possesses a high specific surface area of 108 m(2) g(-1) and exhibits superior OER activity, among the best of Fe/Co-based candidates. The overpotential at 10 mA cm(-2) of the FeCoSnOx on glassy carbon, platinum, and nickel foam electrode is 241, 288, and 217 mV, respectively, in an alkaline electrolyte. In addition to the low overpotential, FeCoSnOx shows low Tafel slope of 29.9, 47.0, and 40.7 mV.dec(-1) on glassy carbon, platinum, and nickel foam electrode, respectively. Moreover, the FeCoSnOx displays no obvious loss of activity after continuous operation for more than 25 h. The main role of tin in the FeCoSnOx is mainly to improve the charge transfer ability. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.