Water splitting is considered as one of the greenest ways to produce oxygen. However, oxygen evolution by water splitting requires larger overpotential which could be depreciated using expensive catalysts. The present research utilizes development of binder free, low cost, high performance and stable electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction using earth abundant materials. A facile hydrothermal method was used to synthesize nanostructured cobalt oxide. The morphological characterization confirms the nano-flowered structure of cobalt oxide. Oxygen evolution studies revealed need of low overpotential (356 mV) to generate 10 mA/cm<sup>2</sup> current. In addition to low overpotential, cobalt oxide electrode showed exceptional flexibility and cyclic stability. The catalytic activity of flower-like nano-structured cobalt oxide electrode was stable up to 2,000 polarization cycles. Our studies suggest that morphology of earth abundant materials such as cobalt oxide can be tuned to achieve low overpotential for oxygen evolution reaction along with high flexibility and robust catalytic performance.

Binder free approach to synthesize flexible nanostructured cobalt oxide electrode for oxygen evolution reaction

254th National Meeting (2017)

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