Synthesis of iron and vanadium co-doped mesoporous cobalt oxide: An efficient and robust catalysts for electrochemical water oxidation

Dual metal doping and optimization are considered as vital approaches for enhancing the electrocatalytic features toward oxygen evolution reaction. Herein, a sequence of Fe and V dual metal-doped mesoporous cobalt oxide (FeV/meso-Co) electrocatalysts was successfully synthesized through citric acid-assisted evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method. The textural, morphological, crystallinity, and electrochemical activities of Fe/V-promoted meso-Co (124 m²/g) are found strongly associated with dual (Fe and V) metal concentration. Benefiting from the combined effect of FeV-doping, the FeV/meso-Co exhibited an extremely lower overpotential of 280 mV to reach 10 mA/cm² for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in 1M KOH electrolyte, which was the considerably lowest value among the earlier catalysts, and the FeV/meso-Co showed similar features as IrO₂ electrodes. Furthermore, FeV/meso-Co electrodes display highly durable (>30 hours) electrocatalytic performance for OER. This inexpensive approach of producing transition dual metal-doped mesoporous materials offers excellent promise for fabricating efficient catalysts and other electrochemical energy-conversion devices.