La-Doped Cobalt Spinel Oxygen Evolution Catalyst from Electrospun Fiber for Efficient Water Decomposition in Acid Electrolyte

Reasonable manufacturing of efficient and nonprecious metal electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reactions (OER) is crucial for renewable energy development for addressing energy crises and environmental issues, which is a key step in reducing the cost of green hydrogen production. In this study, we report a lanthanum (La)-doped nanofiber cobalt spinel catalyst, synthesized via the electrospinning of a zeolite imidazolate framework (ZIF) embedded in polymer fibers, and evaluate its electrocatalytic performance for OER. The results show that in acidic electrolytes (0.1[Formula: see text]M HClO[Formula: see text], the catalyst exhibits a low overpotential of 353[Formula: see text]mV under conditions of 10[Formula: see text]mA[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text] and the Tafel slope is 90.57[Formula: see text]mV[Formula: see text]dec[Formula: see text]. Further investigation reveals the impact of the La molar ratio in La@Co-ZIF on catalytic performance, highlighting the importance of optimized design in improving activity. The excellent electrocatalytic activity of La@Co-ZIF further demonstrated its enormous potential as an efficient electrocatalyst for sustainable energy applications. These results provide important design strategies and forward-looking insights for the development of novel platinum-group-metal (PGM)-free catalysts, particularly for future hydrogen production in water electrolysis.