IrCo Nanodendrite as an Efficient Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Overall Water Splitting under Acidic Conditions

Abstract

Investigation of high-efficiency electrocatalysts for acidic overall water splitting is of great significance toward fulfillment of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers, but still remains challenging. Herein, we report the colloidally synthesis of IrCo alloy nanodendrites with petal-like architecture (NDs). Benefiting from unique hierarchical architecture and strong electronic interaction arising from synergistic alloying effect of IrCo at the atomic level, the resultant IrCo0.65 NDs display remarkable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performances with overpotentials of 17 and 281 mV to achieve 10 mA cm-2 in 0.1 M HClO4, respectively. Moreover, when further used as bifunctional electrocatalyst toward acidic overall splitting, a low cell voltage of 1.593 V is achieved at 10 mA cm-2.