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Abstract
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Nowadays, hydrogen production can meet the growing demand for clean energy [1,2]. Electrochemical water splitting is one of the most effective techniques for producing hydrogen, which is classified into oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, this technique is hindered by the slow kinetics and high overpotential of OER. Therefore, designing electrocatalysts with low overpotential and high current density for OER is a major challenge in water splitting [3,4]. Herein, the cerium oxide/cobalt oxide nanocomposite was synthesized by co-precipitation method, and then the obtained binary oxide was supported on N-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-rGO) by hydrothermal method. The prepared compound was used as an electrode material for water oxidation by different electrochemical methods. The results showed that this compound displays high activity for OER with a low overpotential of 470 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and a Tafel slope of 114 mV dec-1. The synergistic effects between cerium oxide, cobalt oxide and N-rGO increases electrical conductivity, rapid charge transfer, and active electrocatalytic sites and thus increase electrocatalytic activity.
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