Hydrazine oxidation-assisted electrocatalytic water splitting with Prussian blue analog-derived V-doped CoFe-layered double hydroxide nanosheets

Abstract

In this study, we report Prussian blue analog (PBA)-derived vanadium-doped cobalt-iron layered double hydroxide (V-CoFe-LDH) nanosheets as an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrazine oxidation reaction (HzOR) in the aqueous medium. The PBA–derived V-CoFe-LDH offered high surface area, large porosity, coordination unsaturation, and produced 2D nanosheets. V-CoFe-LDH exhibited superior HzOR activity, achieving a significant reduction of the potential requirement (by 0.70 V in 3-electrode and 0.42 V in 2-electrode systems) compared to anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The introduction of V into CoFe-LDH structure modified the electronic properties of the catalyst, offering facile access to the higher oxidation states of Coand Fe-ions toimprove the catalytic performance. Moreover, the structural modification in PBA-derived V-CoFe-LDH led to an improved HzOR compared to the hydrothermally prepared V-CoFe-LDH-HT.