High Efficiency and Total Decomposition of Water by Pt−CoFe@CC Catalyst Loaded with a Small Amount of Pt

Abstract

The development of bifunctional electrocatalysts coupled with HER and OER activities in the same electrolyte to achieve overall water decomposition is more attractive and challenging for practical applications. Here, we prepared a CoFe-LDH catalyst via a hydrothermal method, and grew highly dispersed Pt−CoFe@CC bifunctional catalyst on a carbon cloth via the ethylene glycol thermal reduction method. The low content of Pt was limited to CoFe-LDH to balance the catalytic performance and cost, to achieve effective water decomposition. Surprisingly, the overall decomposition of water can be achieved with a voltage of only 1.6 V and good stability for up to 20 hours. This work provides a design idea and method for combining HER and OER bifunctional electrocatalysts.