Facilitated catalytic surface engineering of MnCo2O4 electrocatalyst towards enhanced oxygen evolution reaction

•MnCo2O4 catalyst is fabricated on the microporous Ni foam architecture via a hydrothermal method.•Small overpotentials of 250 mV and a low Tafel slope of 64 mV dec–1 in alkaline electrolyte medium.•Excellent sustainability up to 60 h at low and high current rate (10, 50, and 100 mA cm−2).•The crumpled sphere structure allocates efficient electron/ion transport with larger catalytically active sites.