Hybrid Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-Derived Co₃Mo/Mo₂C Heterostructure for Enhanced Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Constructing heterostructures is an efficient strategy to develop high-performance and robust electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, an ion-impregnation method and an environmentally friendly in situ carbonization strategy are successively employed to fabricate a novel Co3Mo/Mo2C heterostructure anchored on nitrogen-doped carbon (Co3Mo/Mo2C@NC). Thanks to the formation of heterostructure, the obtained Co3Mo/Mo2C@NC exhibits an enhanced catalytic performance toward OER with a low overpotential (282 mV @ 10 mA cm(-2), 322 mV @ 50 mA cm(-2), and 355 mV @100 mA cm(-2)) and robust stability (100 mA cm(-2) for 200 h) in alkaline media. Detailed experimental results combined with theoretical calculations reveal the formation of a Co3Mo/Mo2C heterojunction interface can decrease the energy barrier of the rate-determining step for intermediates during the OER process, thereby inherently enhancing the OER performance. This work presents a rational synthetic route for designing high-performance heterostructures for energy conversion technologies.