For electrochemical splitting of water, highly active and non-precious metal electrocatalysts towards the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are direly needed to address the cost and stability issues. Herein, polypyrrole (PPy) with 3D flower-like structure has been prepared to obtain N-doped porous carbon sheets (N–C) and to implant with cobalt oxides (Co3O4) via simple and cost-effective hydrothermal reaction. Benefitting from the 3D flower-like porous carbon structure, Co3O4/N–C demonstrates enlarged surface area replenished with more electrocatalytic active sites. What's more, Co3O4 nanoparticles are evenly dispersed onto the N-doped carbon surface which effectively prevents their aggregation and detachment. These exclusive structural features render amazing catalytic activity for Co3O4/N–C towards OER with an onset potential of ~1.31 V (vs RHE), low overpotential of 120 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and a Tafel slope of only 33 mV dec−1 in basic media. This work presents a simple approach to meet an ideal catalytic material with better morphology and advantageous properties for the possible energy and environmental applications.

中文翻译：

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3D花状聚吡咯衍生的 N 掺杂多孔碳偶联氧化钴作为高效析氧电催化剂


对于水的电化学分解，迫切需要针对析氧反应 （OER） 的高活性和非贵金属电催化剂来解决成本和稳定性问题。本文制备了具有 3D 花状结构的聚吡咯 （PPy），通过简单且具有成本效益的水热反应获得 N 掺杂多孔碳片 （N-C） 并植入钴氧化物 （Co3O4）。得益于 3D 花状多孔碳结构，Co3O4/N-C 表现出更大的表面积，并补充了更多的电催化活性位点。更重要的是，Co3O4 纳米颗粒均匀分散在 N 掺杂碳表面，有效防止了它们的聚集和分离。这些独特的结构特征使 Co3O4/N-C 对 OER 具有惊人的催化活性，起始电位为 ~1.31 V（vs RHE），在 10 mA cm-2 时过电位低至 120 mV，在碱性介质中塔菲尔斜率仅为 33 mV dec-1。这项工作提出了一种简单的方法，可以满足理想的催化材料，该材料具有更好的形态和有利的性能，适用于可能的能源和环境应用。