Ru-doped dual NiCo-MOF heterostructure as highly efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for water splitting

Developing efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) to improve the hydrogen production efficiency from water splitting is decisive. In this work, we developed an efficient strategy to obtain NiCoRux trimetal composite catalyst from NiCo-MOF heterojunction with nano-flower-like ZIF-67 growing on layered Ni-BDC. The unique dual-MOF heterointerface creates rich electrochemical surface to anchor ruthenium species; and the synergistic effect among multiple components (Ru, Ni and Co) in NiCoRux improved the catalytic performances in HER and OER processes. As a result, the as-obtained NiCoRu0.5 exhibited excellent catalytic activity and stability for HER and OER in alkaline media, specially presented the overpotential of 240 mV for OER at 20 mA cm-2. This work offers a feasible way to optimize the transition metal-based catalysts for improved electrocatalysis efficiency in overall water splitting.