Overall water splitting by graphdiyne-exfoliated and -sandwiched layered double-hydroxide nanosheet arrays

Abstract It is of great urgency to develop efficient, cost-effective, stable and industrially applicable electrocatalysts for renewable energy systems. But there are still few candidate materials. Here we show a bifunctional electrocatalyst, comprising graphdiyne-exfoliated and -sandwiched iron/cobalt layered double-hydroxide nanosheet arrays grown on nickel foam, for the oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions. Theoretical and experimental data revealed that the charge transport kinetics of the structure were superior to iron/cobalt layered double-hydroxide, a prerequisite for improved electrocatalytic performance. The incorporation with graphdiyne increased the number of catalytically active sites and prevented corrosion, leading to greatly enhanced electrocatalytic activity and stability for oxygen evolution reaction, hydrogen evolution reaction, as well as overall water splitting. Our results suggest that the use of graphdiyne might open up new pathways for the design and fabrication of earth-abundant, efficient, functional, and smart electrode materials with practical applications.