Clustered VCoCOx Nanosheets Anchored on MXene–Ti3C2@NF as a Superior Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Alkaline Water Splitting

Ti₃C₂, one typical MXene, has great potential to be coupled with various transition metals. Herein, a novel and effective catalyst is developed by synergistically loading VCoCOx onto Ti₃C₂-modified nickel foam (VCoCOx–Ti₃C₂@NF). Field emission scanning electron microscope and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy are employed to characterize the morphology and structure. As expected, the catalyst optimized by response surface methodology attains overpotentials of 290 and 64 mV and Tafel slopes of 82 and 79 mV dec⁻¹ for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), respectively. By using the bifunctional VCoCOx–Ti₃C₂@NF catalyst, the water splitting current density achieves 10 mA cm⁻² in 1.0 mol L⁻¹ KOH electrolyte at cell voltage of 1.52 V, comparable with the noble metal electrolyzer Pt@C@NF||RuO₂@NF (1.57 V). Furthermore, the resulting catalyst exhibits excellent cycling durability after 120 h of continuous catalysis, which retains 103.8% and 105.4% of potential (V vs reversible hydrogen electrode) for OER and HER, respectively. Density functional theory calculation reveals that the Gibbs free energy barriers for the OER and HER intermediates are reduced due to the integration of VCoCO_x with Ti₃C₂@NF. The fabricated VCoCOx–Ti₃C₂@NF catalyst is a promising electrochemical material for clean energy production.