A polyhedral Ni/Cu bimetallic metal–organic framework for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract

The discovery of a cutting-edged electrocatalyst for water-splitting is an immense challenge to developing metal–air batteries and fuel cells. Therefore, developing sophisticated electrocatalysts with high activity and stability based on non-noble metal elements remains a great challenge. Herein, we prepared efficient polyhedral Ni/Cu bimetallic MOFs that are synthesized by a simple solvothermal method, in which the incorporation of Ni enhances the electrocatalytic properties of CuBTC MOF with distinct molar ratios. Benefiting from the unique morphology, and the favourable effect of Ni incorporation, the polyhedral Ni/Cu bimetallic MOFs exhibit conspicuous efficiency towards OER. The optimized NiCuBTC (2 : 8) bimetallic MOF exhibited superior activity with an overpotential of 290 mV to reach the current density of 10 mA cm⁻². Moreover, the NiCuBTC (2 : 8) MOF also shows better long-term stability. The present work shows a facile strategy to design and synthesize a NiCuBTC (2 : 8) MOF electrocatalyst, which offers superior electrocatalytic performance towards water electrocatalysis.