Multifunctional Active-Center-Transferable Platinum/Lithium Cobalt Oxide Heterostructured Electrocatalysts towards Superior Water Splitting

Designing cost-effective and efficient electrocatalysts plays a pivotal role in advancing the development of electrochemical water splitting for hydrogen generation. Herein, multifunctional active-center-transferable heterostructured electrocatalysts, platinum/lithium cobalt oxide (Pt/LiCoO₂) composites with Pt nanoparticles (Pt NPs) anchored on LiCoO₂ nanosheets, are designed towards highly efficient water splitting. In this electrocatalyst system, the active center can be alternatively switched between Pt species and LiCoO₂ for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), respectively. Specifically, Pt species are the active centers and LiCoO₂ acts as the co-catalyst for HER, whereas the active center transfers to LiCoO₂ and Pt turns into the co-catalyst for OER. The unique architecture of Pt/LiCoO₂ heterostructure provides abundant interfaces with favorable electronic structure and coordination environment towards optimal adsorption behavior of reaction intermediates. The 30 % Pt/LiCoO₂ heterostructured electrocatalyst delivers low overpotentials of 61 and 285 mV to achieve 10 mA cm⁻² for HER and OER in alkaline medium, respectively.