Tuning the Catalytic Activity of Bifunctional Cobalt Boride Nanoflakes for Overall Water Splitting over a Wide pH Range

Abstract

The world is in the process of transitioning towards a more sustainable energy future, with green hydrogen considered an attractive energy vector that can replace fossil fuel consumption, meeting global energy demands. To date, the most advanced method to produce green hydrogen is through water electrolysis using the residual supply of renewable energy. The current state-of-the-art catalysts used in electrolyzers are platinum-based metals and ruthenium/iridium oxides. The scarceness of these elements, combined with their high price, make these catalysts not economically viable for largescale production of hydrogen through water electrolysis. This study presents cobalt boride nanoflakes as materials to be used in both the anode and the cathode of an electrolyzer for electrochemical water splitting over a wide pH range. The cobalt boride nanoflakes were synthesized by the chemical reduction of CoCl2 using NaBH4 at three different concentrations to obtain CoB and Co2B nanoflakes. CoB nanoflakes exhibited both a higher specific surface area and greatest disparity in charge between B and Co, in comparison to Co2B. It was demonstrated that by tuning the properties of the cobalt boride nanoflakes, higher catalytic activities for both the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reaction can be achieved, showing good overall stability.