Cobalt Nanoparticles Embedded in N-Doped Porous Carbon for Efficient Alkaline Water Electrolysis

Facilitating development of efficient non-noble electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) remains imperative to realize the industrialization of H2 generation. Nanostructures derived from metal–organic frameworks have received a lot of interest in constructing extremely active electrocatalysts owing to its three-dimensional porous carbon architecture and distinctive coordination environment. Herein, we constructed tiny cobalt nanoparticles uniformly embedded in N-doped porous carbon carriers grown on the carbon fibers. The well-designed structure and carbon-based supports make the catalysts exhibit enhanced electrocatalytic activity and long-term durability that can be ascribed to abundant active sites, smaller diffusion resistance, and faster charge transfer while the special surface chemical state of the catalyst also plays a vital role during the HER and OER process. As a result, the as-synthesized catalysts catalyze HER and OER with a minor overpotential of 80 and 320 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm–2, respectively..